Steven Universe: The Malevolent Shard
by LadyLuck678
Summary: Deep in a remote canyon, a dark and spiteful weapon was forgotten over 5,500 years ago during the Gem Rebellion. Can the Crystal Gems with the help of Blue Diamond stop the darkness before it consumes them? Join Steven as he tries to stop this menace while strengthening the his friendship with the "merciful" Blue Diamond. Set a few months after CYM in the (mostly) canon universe.
1. Arrival

Homeworld in its broken glory was an amazing spectacle when its sun rose. All of its crystal spires, quartz guards and polished pathways reflecting a brilliant mirror shine as if yearning to be just as bright as the star it orbited around. Blue Diamond barely gave the sight more than a glance however, there was work to be done.

She had to consult with Yellow Diamond on a rather urgent request and Yellow wouldn't be overly pleased with what Blue had agreed to.

She stepped past some burly Topaz guards into Yellow's golden palace grounds and quickly walked over to her private chambers. Anyone requesting to see Yellow Diamond needed an appointment, and appointments were rarely made voluntarily... But Blue always had free range to come and go as she pleased, and when she walked up to the large amber doors to Yellow's chamber they opened without hesitation.

"Ah! Blue Diamond! Please follow me." Blue couldn't help but smile a little; her expression expertly hidden in the shade of her veil. Yellow's pearl, she was a high strung creature but very diligent in her duties. "My Diamond, Blue Diamond is here for an audience." The little yellow pearl saluted as she spoke, "That will be all pearl." The small gem bowed once more to Blue as she made her way back to the entrance.

The room was dim, a majority of the light coming from the consoles and screens that Yellow had up around her. Blue sauntered over to the chair that Yellow occupied, "You've been here since the middle of the day yesterday haven't you?" She let the veil that covered her head slip down on to her shoulders as she sat on the arm of the chair.

"I'm reorganizing the armies in sector 3874. I called off the invasion on the system there." The golden general took a deep breath after she stated what she was doing and sat back. A long pause drew out after the revelation. Blue wrapped her arm around the latter's shoulder and kissed her gently on the temple. "Things are changing, for better or worse I suppose." Yellow said reflectively, "However I'm sure you're not here to listen to me muse."

The golden diamond clasped the blue hand that was delicately touching the gem on her chest. "I am, as always, at your service my darling." A mischievous smile drew across Blue Diamond's face. "You won't say that once I tell you what I'm up to. I need to discuss my plans to visit Earth. Steven spoke with me at length last night; there's a particularly nasty weapon giving the Crystal Gems some problems."

"So you're going to drop everything and go to Earth?" Yellow Diamond's brow knit together, she was trying to digest what was said. "Blue, while I'll agree that our relations with Steven are much better, I don't feel comfortable with you going there on your own. We're not exactly friends with the Crystal Gems..." Yellow gave the elegant blue gem sitting next to her a piercing look. "Why don't you order an Aqua Marine and some Topaz soldiers to go again?" Blue shook her head and got up abruptly. "No that didn't go well at all last time, and we need to build some trust with the gems residing there. Besides, wouldn't you feel bad if something happened to Steven? We put a lot of dangerous weapons and relics in place during the rebellion."

White had also placed some nasty artifacts on the Earth in an attempt to quell the rebellion. The relic in question was admittedly from White's arsenal of weapons. Blue had to dig particularly deep in her archives to find the specifics. After researching for a couple of cycles she knew Steven and his unorthodox court of gems and humans would need assistance.

"We are ultimately responsible my love." Yellow looked at the resolved Blue Diamond and sighed. Blue had a look of pure determination in her eyes that Yellow hadn't seen in thousands of years (about 6000). She got up and walked over to her cerulean queen and wrapped her arms around her waist. Blue reciprocated by placing her arms around Yellow's neck, "For the record, I don't approve."

Blue arched a thin eyebrow, "Noted."

"I'd also like a full report of what ever this weapon is." Blue's brow narrowed in annoyance; it was a thousands year old argument between them about who would handle what situation when intelligence and military oversight crossed into each other.

"You know that artifacts, intelligence and policy are well under my purview."

"Yes, but this a weapon as well, putting it in the peripheral of my responsibilities."

"Why do I get the distinct feeling that this is more about me traveling solo to Earth than it is about your responsibilities?"

The pair didn't break the embrace, it was clear however that Yellow was incredibly agitated at Blue questioning the general's judgment.

"Because the last time I let someone important to me travel to that dammed planet by themselves to face possible danger I lost them forever!"

There it was, it actually shocked the both of them. Ever since they had found Pink Diamond (or her son rather), Yellow had been more forthcoming with her feelings. Blue didn't expect such a large admission and neither did Yellow, judging by the contorted look on her face and the tears in the corners of her eyes.

Blue drew herself a little closer, their noses almost touching. She cupped Yellow's cheek with soft fingers, thumb caressing a strong chin. "Let me handle this, I won't be long. I'll even send you the data on the object I'm dealing with." Voice soft as blue velvet.

Against her better judgment the golden matriarch relented with a heavy sigh; "You're going to have to be more discreet than last time you visited..."

…...

Steven sat on the sandy beach in front of his home with a large rose colored lion napping behind him. Lion _was_ his name as well, and Steven thought that maybe a more creative name would be appropriate. But then again, the overly large pink cat behind him was unique enough.

"So she said three days time right?" Connie Maheswaran was sitting next to Steven leaning back on Lion. Her warm brown eyes questioning as she looked at the sky. It was dusk and the first stars of the evening were poking through some pastel colored clouds. "She said three Earth Sol cycles, I hope that means three days, it's hard to tell with gems sometimes."

Connie smiled, the concept of time for a gem compared to a human were very different things; a gem could live for tens of thousands of years. What was three days or even 30 years to beings that were almost immortal? "I'm pretty sure that's what she meant." Connie smiled at Steven and he smiled back; best friends forever.

Just as soon as the two children got back to their comfortable silence a booming sound came from the sky far above them. The unmistakable sight of a fiery entrance into Earth's atmosphere. However instead of landing in front of the beach, the foreign object made its way to the far side of Beach City. Only tall cliffs and large seaweed covered rocks occupied this part of the coast.

"That has to be her!" Steven said wide eyed. "Come on Lion, warp us to the cliffs!" Lion only grumped a bit and turned over. "Aw come on Lion! It'll take forever to get to that side on foot!" Steven huffed in frustration as Connie laughed.

"Fine, I'll get you two Lion Lickers if you get us over there, one for bringing me and one for Connie. What do you think buddy?" Lion stood up and stretched as both Connie and Steven got on the large cat's back; seemingly pleased with the bargain. (Who knew you could haggle with a lion?) With a mighty roar the trio was instantly warped to where the ship landed.

…...


	2. Gem History X

The ship was a much smaller version of the arm ships that the Diamond Authority used. In fact it was the same model ship that Peridot was using when the Crystal Gems first had a physical altercation with her and Jasper. This ship however was colored blue and in typical fashion landed palm up.

A white encapsulated sphere soon appeared in the palm and collapsed almost as soon as it appeared revealing a shrouded Blue Diamond. Near 50ft in height she still managed to gracefully jump to the rocky beach (careful to not make too much of a ruckus). "Steven, I'm so happy to see you." She said with her soft lilting accent, smiling.

"Blue! You made it, I'm so glad you're here!" Steven and Connie got off Lion and began walking towards the large blue woman. She held out her left hand, palm out to stop them from proceeding further.

"Just a moment Steven, I want my visit to be... less disruptive than last time." The shrouded figure then turned and lifted her right hand, the ship levitated unnaturally and following Blue's movements flipped palm down and then into a fist. Finally it was submerged under the salty waves of the ocean.

Satisfied with how the ship was stowed, Blue let her shroud slip off her shoulders. Her projection shimmered around her gem into a bright light then contorted and curled into a much smaller version of herself. Deep breath in, then out as she stretched. Gems didn't need to breath, but it had its uses.

Blue looked over to the children and her smile grew wider. Steven had nothing but stars in his eyes as he stared with his jaw dropped open. Even his human friend Connie had an astonished expression (the large pink animal only regarded her with mild interest).

"Blue you can do that!?" Steven ran up and jumped in the cerulean matriarch's arms, she caught him effortlessly and planted a few wet kisses on his cheek in rapid succession. "Of course I can! You're so silly Steven, all gems can do this."

Connie walked up as Blue set Steven back on the ground, she crouched in front of them so she could speak to the pair at eye level. "So, you are well?" She looked at both children intensely, questioningly. The diamond reached out to the young human girl and Connie hesitantly gave her hand to Blue. She gently wrapped her elegant fingers around the small dark hand, almost completely engulfing it.

Connie is very important to Steven. She wasn't just a "pet" as was first thought. The young gem hybrid had a very high opinion of the little human girl so that was something worth noting. The boy was very worried, Blue picked up on his anxiety almost instantly when they had conversed nearly 3 days ago.

Connie had injured herself while defending Steven. Blue now held the appendage that was damaged during the Crystal Gem's attempt to try and neutralize the dangerous artifact. Steven cared so much for this girl... If she was important to him than Blue would endeavor to care for her too; she had to at least try. She needed to listen, to understand, the past could not be repeated...

Blue snapped out of her musing, an urgent question spilling off her tongue, "No permanent harm was done to either of you?" Steven paused and scuffed the sand with his feet. "I healed Connie's broken arm and Amethyst was almost poofed, but she's okay."

_Poofed_, a slang term that the Crystal Gems used instead_ of_ dissipation; where a gem's form was basically destroyed and brought down to its basic component.

"Hey, uh, let's go to my house and talk about this. Garnet and the others are gonna want to hear what you have to say about this thing. Honestly we don't even have a name for it... we didn't even get a look. Just a horrible feeling." The gem matriarch nodded and stood, Steven gently tugging her robes in the direction home.

…...

Peridot was in awe the first time she got a full view of Stevens house. The beach house was cradled in the arms of a mighty stone goddess carved into the side of a cliff. It sat overlooking the ocean with a serene expression on her stony faces (two in total). A perfect example of Era One Gem-kind architecture.

The small green gem noted that it was now fully dark out from her perch on the bed. She had been playing video games while waiting for Steven and Connie to return; only halfheartedly paying attention to the electronic distraction. Peridot had been paying more attention to the conversation going on in the living area below.

"I don't like this, calling homegirl just for some old, gem, artifact thingy?" Amethyst huffed as she plopped on the couch. "We've handled stuff like this, like a thousand times before! Why don't we just go back? Maybe take Bismuth and Lapis with us this time." The stout purple gem continued to pout as she slouched further into the cushions putting her feet up on the living room table.

"I may have to agree with Amethyst this time." Pearl looked out the front door with no small amount of concern. It had been over an hour now since Steven left the beach with Connie. The willowy gem was wringing her hands.

"See even P agrees with me, come on Garnet let's just call this whole thing off!"

"No, we need help for this one, every outcome I've seen without assistance ends in a bad way." Pearl, Amethyst and Peridot looked at Garnet. The tall dark red fusion was leaning against the cabinets next to the stove. Her face placid and unreadable as ever. What she was looking at behind her mirrored visor was anyone's guess; the living room lamp, the window, the future… (More than one future in all probability.)

"We should have went with him to the landing site. I just can't trust the Authority after everything that's happened! I mean the Diamonds' did make a truce with us, but…" Pearl's gaze went back to some distant, unseen location on the coast.

Peridot cleared her throat, time for some rational redirection,"Look this is just a logical step. We have a problem that we can't solve without collaboration; we're using the Diamonds as a resource that's all." They needed to be more sensible and less emotional. They were calling in a favor, nothing more.

"Pffft it's all fun and games until one of the Diamonds comes down here with a flipping army." Amethyst shot back, pouting still. Peridot gingerly walked down the steps from the bedroom loft giving a soft "neyh" in response, annoyed with the quartz's attitude.

She adjusted her visor as she peered out the front windows, "Well what ever you think it's too late now. Here comes Steven and Connie with..." The diminutive green gem had to pause at what she was seeing for a moment. She looked over at Pearl who had pursed her lips into a thin straight line. "_Ahem_, a form shifted Blue Diamond."

Amethyst leapt from the couch and hurried over to the bench that was in front of the windows. There they were; Steven busily going from Blue Diamonds side to walking backwards in front of her, mouth going a mile a minute (all excitement). Connie only a couple feet behind sitting on Lion's sturdy back as he plodded along.

Blue Diamond to her credit had shifted her form; she was clearly trying to fit in from all appearances. She had shifted from a 50ft space dictator to a roughly 8ft figure. Her her long veil wrapped around her shoulders with her gem just visible below it, the end billowing out and trailing behind her. Her robes were shorter and straight at the bottom instead of tapered. There with a slit on the right side for ease of movement revealing sandals that were laced all the way up to her knee.

The figures stopped on the beach just in front of the house, Steven chattering away. Blue gazed up at the house, ice blue eyes glowing in the dark. Peridot could swear the diamond was looking right through the wall at every single occupant, judging...

"I'm surprised Yellow Diamond isn't here." Pearl said softly looking down at the gem engineer.

"It actually makes more sense that Blue Diamond is here. As a former royal pearl, you know her court is specifically set up for information and intelligence." Peridot said in a matter of fact way.

"Wait I thought she was _diplomatic_?" Amethyst asked, tearing her eyes from the figures gathered outside.

"Ha! You really think our species is diplomatic? Oh my dear Amethyst, we are a conquering, space faring race. We use the term diplomatic loosely to help put other species at ease." Peridot snorted incredulously.

"No, the Blue Court is all about intelligence, espionage and information gathering." The green gem paused looking outside.

"And Blue Diamond? She's in charge of all of that."

…...

"Err, are you ready?" The boy with stars in his eyes asked. This would be a somewhat hostile situation, and she was alone. Could she trust the Crystal Gems? They had trusted her and Yellow (at least to a degree) when they traveled to Homeworld some months ago. No this would not do. Trust had to be given in order for it to be reciprocated. Besides she wasn't completely alone, Steven was here. "Lead the way little one." The boy smiled and held Blue's hand as he led her up the stairs.

"Hey everyone, Blue's here to help!" Blue ducked slightly to enter Steven's abode, she was greeted by a motley crew of gems. Steven's pearl enthusiastically wrapped him in a hug and asked him and Connie a few quiet questions. The perma-fusion stood some feet away near some sort of storage area for comestibles while a peridot and a quartz soldier sat on a bench next to the door.

"Uh, hello Blue Diamond." The peridot addressed her meekly as the amethyst quartz glared from behind (if looks could shatter).

"Thank you for putting some faith in us... in me, this could not have been easy." The diamond started slowly, deliberately picking her words. "What can I do to aid you?" She looked poignantly at Garnet knowing that she was their chosen leader.

The fusion shifted her weight and spoke plainly, "We've found an enormously powerful gem artifact on the continent of Africa, it resides in a deep remote canyon in the east. Rose Quartz always kept us away from this artifact in particular, especially during the war."

The peridot spoke up, "The reason why we're bothering with it at all is because some of the light constructs it generates are beginning to disturb the humans living in the area."

The diamond looked away sharply at mention of Rose (of Pink), the subject was still raw. She took a deep breath and in a flat, cool voice began to speak. "I know the weapon that was placed there; the Shard of the Malevolent . That is what resides on the facet of Earth you speak of. It is an incredibly powerful and ancient weapon that's been used in multiple invasions. It's tens of thousands of years old by Earth standards."

"There was a hessonite and a troupe of citrines assigned to it, to keep it in check." Blue supplemented, "But like so many gems during the rebellion, she and her soldiers went missing."

The matriarch paused while her fingers gently cupped the diamond at her chest, a light blue hologram materialized in the center of the room. A grid with facts and data points appeared next to the object in question. The shard was a black thing, with sharp twisted tendrils jutting up and out. Even though it was a projection, the room seemed to grow heavy from just the mere depiction of it. "It has the ability to create light projection constructs, just like the light prisms we have on Homeworld."

"This is different though, what we faced in that canyon... was monstrous!" Steven's rogue pearl, clearly shaken by the encounter they had. She held both children close to her, as if to shield them from the black thing in the middle of the room.

Blue continued, "The shard differs from any common prism in that it detects and even feeds off negative emotions and fears. It has the combined negativity of _all_ the conflicts it's ever been involved in, plus what ever emotions and fears that were fed into it simply by being in it's proximity."

"See! This is why we have problems with you guys!" Amethyst burst out, her rage plain to see. "You made some horrible weapon and planted it on the earth not thinking about anyone else living here! Then you just left it behind so it could hurt people!" Her face flushed a darker shade of violet.

The hologram Blue Diamond had been projecting dissipated, she sighed heavily and raised a thin eyebrow. "What would you have me do quartz?" Her soft accent gaining an icy edge. "I cannot change what happened in the past, I can only remedy what is happening now." It came out harsh, she only had so much patience. To be snapped at by a mere soldier...

"Uh guys? Maybe we can just work on fixing this, what do you think? Garnet?" Steven said tentatively breaking the heavy silence.

"Agreed, we can argue about the past but it won't stop this danger now. Let's call it a night. Steven and Connie, get some sleep. The rest of you be prepared, we'll come up with a plan early tomorrow and then head out. Blue Diamond will you support us in neutralizing the Malevolent Shard?"

The pause was uncertain, but the Diamond matriarch slowly nodded her head. "You'll need all the support you can get, including mine."

And that was it. The tension blew out of the room as the garnet and amethyst went through the temple doors. Steven's pearl ushered Connie near the bathroom carrying her bag, asking if she needed anything. Meanwhile the peridot gamely climbed one of the stools in the center of the room and busied herself with some sort of human technology, business as usual it seemed.


	3. Doughnuts and Feelings

**A few** **notes:** **So far so good! Welcome to my story, I just wanted to establish some head canon.**

**Blue and Yellow are a thing. Honestly at first I didn't think so (I thought they were sisters too), but after re-watching a few key episodes of Steven Universe I thought otherwise. No hate if you think they're sisters or if you ship them. I can see it both ways honestly but I tend to lean towards the pair being an old married couple... that's just me. Please no hate at the "Bellow" ship, it's not hurting anyone and I'm sure you have better things to do anyways.**

**The story is set a few months after "Change Your Mind". I have it in my head that Steven has been in contact on the regular with the Diamond Authority, thus the familiar nature he has with Blue (She's diplomatic remember? more on that below). I also believe that Blue calls him frequently because she really wants to fix what happened in the past with Pink Diamond. "I've got another chance, I can't screw this up again".**

**Blue Diamond and her court are known to be diplomatic. My day job is working embassies, and diplomacy doesn't necessarily mean being _nice or polite_. There's a lot of information and policy making going on in these buildings. So when Rebecca Sugar said Blue Diamond's court was diplomatic I immediately thought of all the behind the scenes that goes on. In my head Blue Diamond's court goes out and gathers information and passes it on to Yellow Diamond when they're out being giant space conquerors.**

**That's enough from me, excelsior!**

**... ...**

Blue walked out the screen door. Steven walked out after and took a place next to her as she gazed at the sky near the railing. "That was a good meeting, right?" He gave a nervous little laugh. "It was a little tense for my liking Steven." He sighed and leaned on the railing changing the subject.

"So, where do you want to stay tonight? Peridot usually takes up the bathroom when she visits, but you can hang out with me an Connie if you like?" Blue's lips quirked up, she watched as an epiphany dawned on the boy. "And then you can go to the Big Donut with me in the morning! Oh jeez this is the best idea ever!"

Blue's eyebrows knitted together, she'd been studying earth culture when there was time. As soon as amiable contact was established with earth again her and Yellow made it a point to tap into the data infrastructure; the humans had come so far technology wise. There was little context for what she studied however, try as she might. "Err, doe-nut?" Steven just smiled, took Blue's hand and lead her back into the house.

... ...

The night had gone by serenely despite Steven's giddy excitement and Connie's natural inquisitiveness. After settling down, the children fell asleep with Blue watching over them. The dawn came in glorious purples and oranges and reds, the ocean looked like a blanket of crystals.

The ancient matriarch had to admit; the dawn on Earth was as spectacular as Homeworld's. It was a rough, uncut sort of beauty, a hidden gem unrefined. She wondered how many times Pink watched the sunrise on Earth... Oh what would Pink think of her now? Once upon a time she was proud, merciless and flawless. Now she was broken down, compromised some would even say. Is this what Pink wanted?

A high pitched sound pierced the air startling Blue. Connie, who was situated closest to the stairs, quickly stopped clamor by slamming her hand against the offending object. A time keeping caricature of a feline head was the source of the noise. The girl then turned over, covering her head with a pillow.

"Sorry Blue, my alarm clock is sooo loud." Steven mumbled as he scooted across the bed and then slid to the floor. He leaned against the gem sitting next to him and began to doze a bit. A cool hand reached around and tenderly cupped his cheek, a thumb stroking across it. "You should probably start thinking about getting ready for the day, there's much to do." Blue gently murmured to him while leaning down to bury her nose in a tousle of dark curls.

Steven wasn't Pink, but he was undeniably a part of her. And Blue wanted desperately to be a part of his life. She wanted to know him, to be worthy of the love he showed her. The small intimacies they shared between each other was a sweet balm against the centuries of despair she had endured.

"Oh right! Gotta show you the Big Donut." Steven jumped up and grabbed some clothes out of a dresser drawer and ran down stairs.

"Peridot I'm coming in!"

"Hey! It's early you clod!"

"Peridaaaaht, you don't need to sleep and I have to go!"

"Ahhh! Steven you are the clodiest clod sometimes!"

The slight-in-stature Peridot hastily emerged from the bathroom with a scandalized look on her face. She grabbed her tablet and proceeded outside to the table on the deck. Blue looked on, bewildered at the entire spectacle that had just unfolded in front of her. She glanced at the now awake Connie, "Does this happen all the time?" The girl laughed, "_All_ the time."

... ...

The sun was now sitting slightly higher in the sky as Steven and Blue Diamond made the short walk to the Big Donut. The tall woman had pulled her shroud over head and gracefully followed the nearly bouncing boy gem. "Good morning Mr. Dewey!" Steven announced their arrival enthusiastically.

"Good morning Universe! You're out early today. What can I get you and your friend... here today?" An uncertain pause came from the middle aged former mayor. Steven began to prattle off a rather large order of doughnuts. (Sugary, baked confections Peridot explained.) Then he motioned to Blue as Mr. Dewey busied himself behind the counter.

"Doughnuts, one of the greatest inventions of human kind." Blue knelt in front of the display case with Steven, "The _greatest_ invention?" A wide smile was presented to the gem matriarch. He reminded her of Pink so much at times her heart ached.

"One of them anyways, uh, I might be exaggerating." Blue returned the smile as she brushed back her veil. She got up and watched carefully as Steven got out the appropriate amount of money. What a primitive practice; a monetary system, how wasteful.

She turned to look at some brightly colored beverages in a glass case when: "So you're one of Steven's friends? So what's a beautiful lady like you doing toni-"

A disdainful thin eyebrow arched on the gems face, "Human, I don't have the _patience_ nor the _years required_ for any sort of courting rituals." Shut down, cold.

"Heeeeey, thanks May-uh I mean Mr. Dewey. Come on Blue!"

... ...

The bench a short ways away at the end of the board walk made for a pleasant respite. Steven figured Connie would need time to get ready so spending a few minutes on the boardwalk with Blue wouldn't hurt.

"I know gems don't need to eat but there's more than enough here if you'd like to try." Blue's lips quirked up a bit as she politely shook her head. "Perhaps later Steven, I'm not feeling particularly bold today." The young gem had a feeling that Blue was already thinking of the task ahead of them.

There was a long comfortable pause between the pair. Steven had "liberated" a jelly doughnut from it's box and began to thoroughly enjoy it. "So, you've lived here all your life?" Steven swallowed a mouth full and answered, "Yep, when I was about seven I moved in with the Gems, and they started teaching me about my powers." He squinted his eyes for a moment, to some memory past.

"Well the best they could, my powers didn't really start working regularly until a little over a year ago." He blushed, it was an issue. His gem powers were very fickle at times. Steven didn't know if it was just him or because he was half human or what if anything.

"You're more than just a common gem, you are a diamond Steven. You are flawless and unique. Aside from myself, you're arguably the most powerful being on this planet." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked over at the cerulean diamond. She didn't mean the comment as an insult, she presented it as a fact. "There are many things that Yellow and I can show you, about who you are, what you can do..."

Blue's features seemed wizened underneath the shadow of her veil, arctic eyes searching for... Steven hadn't quite figured out what yet. But there was a question he had that the gem next to him could answer.

"So, I had one thing, it might come in handy when we go to get the shard today." He scooted closer to Blue and she placed her hand on his shoulder, fingertips raking gently against the fabric of his shirt. "That aura thing you do, I can do that too. What is that?"

Nodding the diamond began her explanation, "It's formally called pathokinesis; you can sense and manipulate emotions. This includes feelings, moods and their affects, of yourself, people, animals and other creatures." Steven simply gaped at her. "That's a really cool trick Blue! Can all the Diamonds do that?" A gentle smile and a low chuckle came with the answer.

"To one degree or another, Pink and I were exceptionally gifted at it. Pink wasn't very studious however, she never quite got the knack. Yellow is to a degree... She's not fond of using it, if at all. White can do this as well, she much prefers mind control however." The part about his mother was a interesting but he'd have to ask later.

"So how do I control it? I mean I've used it before, but it's like I have to be asleep to use it. That's not going to work when we go for that shard today." Blue leaned in a little closer to Steven, her free hand on her chin, deep in thought. "Like all of your abilities it's tied to your emotions, _especially_ this ability. It will take some practice to truly learn control." She paused, "Let's give it a quick attempt, try and make me feel what your feeling now."

Steven was horrified at the prospect, he clutched the gem at his stomach. Here goes nothing; he sat there and felt his gem, felt the power within it and tried _pushing. _The only thing he succeeded at doing though was make himself sweat.

"Stop, no-no-no. Steven, stars above, your going to hurt yourself!" He stopped and gasped for air, he didn't realize that he'd been holding his breath. He looked up only to see concern on the Blue's face.

"Let me try and help." While keeping her hand around Steven's shoulder in place she put her free hand around the fist clutching Steven's gem.

"First take a deep breath in, then out."

"I thought gems didn't need to breath?"

"It has its uses. Now relax your mind..."

"For how long?"

"Steven!" She was exasperated and laughing all in the same turn.

"Sorry! Alright, serious Steven activated!"

"Now close your eyes and relax your mind, there's only here and now. Hear the waves as they wash upon the shore, the birds as they cry above us. The sun as it warms your skin, the sand beneath your toes. Focus on your feelings, and _only_ your feelings. Breath in, then out... What am I feeling right at this moment?"

It took a moment more but Steven felt everything that Blue was feeling; physically, mentally and emotionally. She was unsure, and lonely even. But she was also hopeful and driven, she truly wanted to be here, to be with him."You're so sad, but you're also really happy..." the boy said.

Finally opening his eyes, he realized they were surrounded by a lavender light. It was a combination of both his and Blue's pathokinetic ambience.

"You're frightened, but determined, eager and..." The diamond struggled with the next feeling "...and proud?"

"I'm proud of you Blue. You're trying so hard, and I love you for that, I want you to know that."

Blue was openly stunned, tears slowly dripping down her face. Steven couldn't help himself, he reached up and tenderly put his hand on the glowing gem on her chest. A multitude of unspoken feelings passing between the pair.

"Steven, everyone is assembled. We need to get going." The aura snapped out of existence as Steven spun his head around. Garnet had walked up without either him or Blue noticing.

"Uh, yeah coming right now!" He scrubbed his eyes with the back of his arm, and picked up the all but forgotten box of doughnuts. Blue was looking in the other direction no doubt composing herself. Steven hopped off the bench and gently tugged on Blue's robes, "Time to get to work Blue."


	4. Uneasiness

Peridot rubbed at her eyes under her visor until she was able to see; using the warp could be jarring at times. It was late afternoon, the time difference was roughly seven hours by her calculation. The sky was azure in color, and thunder rumbled in the distance. A storm was approaching only adding to the ominous nature of the sub-tropical venue.

The warp pad was partially overgrown with with roots and dirt, they hadn't really addressed it the last time they visited, the group was in a rush to leave."Ugh! We should take stock of all the working warp pads and start a routine to maintain them." Pearl presented a dirty look to the invading vegetation.

"NERD. They're just plants, don't be so uptight pirogi." Amethyst walked forward into some ferns and nearly disappeared from sight. A vacuous sound boomed next to the group, followed by a large pink feline with Connie and Steven on top. The warp pad couldn't accommodate everyone, and it was a tight fit even before Blue Diamond decided to come along.

Peridot hopped off the pad to make more room, clutching her trashcan lid as she walked a few feet beyond. She wouldn't readily admit that it was a trashcan lid... She dubbed it her "levitation disc" for the time being, it has its uses (it even had a handle on the bottom for an extra passenger). The green gem flipped the lid up into the air and it smoothly floated a couple feet from the ground. She then proceeded to sit cross legged on it and waited for everyone else to group up.

"Fascinating... You're an era two peridot yet you have powers?" Blue Diamond had directed her attention on Peridot's recently found talent. To be honest she didn't really feel like being the subject of Blue clod's attention at the moment. Nor was she amused at her tone when she said "era two". Second era gems were looked down on especially by Homeworld elite. The lower the gem caste, the possibility of having any magical abilities went down exponentially.

"When I came to Earth it was discovered that I have metal manipulation abilities." She sniffed while adjusting her visor. She looked up to see a truly perplexed look on the gem matriarch's face.

"An era two peridot with ferrokinesis is simply, unheard of..." The diamond trailed off.

The green gem took immense pleasure in knowing that she was so much more than what she was originally created for. Gratification only _began_ to express how Peridot felt. She simply beamed at the diamond scrutinizing her.

"Alright everyone, listen up." Garnet's voice rang out over the group pulling them from any chit-chat or other distractions.

"We're going to stick with the plan. The fortress is further in. Spread out, but don't stray too far from each other. Peridot, Amethyst; get a view from above, let us know if anything is coming our way." Garnet took a moment to make sure both gems were listening, Peridot fidgeted under her unreadable gaze.

The group had come up with a loose approximation of a plan. They didn't quite know what to do once they had made it to the fortress. The Gems barely made it halfway the last time. Connie had a badly injured limb and Amethyst had acquired a fine crack in her gem. Steven had healed them both, they could have possibly attempted again. Garnet pulled them back however; her future vision guiding her decisions.

"Big G, question; why can't Blue Diamond just morph back to her regular size? She can stomp on everything and all this will be done." Amethyst threw a hard look at the diamond.

"If I were to do that, the shard would sense my presence and create a projection of my true size. I doubt any one here wants to see a 50 foot light construct along with the other constructs that already exist."

Amethyst's hard look quickly became a scowl. "Amethyst, focus. We need coverage from above, no surprises like last time." Garnet's gaze was directed at Amethyst. The purple gem let out a frustrated sigh and started change shape.

Peridot watched in awe as her fellow gem shape shifted from a typical quartz soldier to a feathery purple owl. "On our way G." Amethyst grumped as she started flapping her wings, "Common Peri, don't be a slow-poke." She then turned to the rest of the gems, "Don't worry guys, _owl_ be sure to let you know if anything comes your way!"

Steven and Connie giggled while Pearl rolled her eyes; Garnet simply looked on. Peridot shook her head and stood on her _levitation disc_. This was one of the moments when she wondered what she had done to deserve the kinship of these gems.

With that, she proceeded to follow Amethyst into the air so she could trawl for inevitable trouble.

… …

If someone had told Connie Maheswaran a couple years ago that she would be an integral member of a group of interstellar magical warriors whose job was to defend the Earth, she would have immediately began to yell for help from the nearest adult in ear shot.

But here she was, with a group of interstellar magical warriors helping them to defend the Earth. She was a trained fencer (thank you Pearl), and she used a large pink lion as her steed. It was like something out of _Harry Potter _or _The Unfamiliar Familiar_. In short; it was amazing.

She had traveled and seen the world via magical warps. Then traveled to different star systems and planets and had fought against all manner of mystical beings and beasts; both literally and figuratively. The thing she loved and treasured the most though; was the friends she made (Steven in particular). With her determination and her friends, she felt that she could overcome anything thrown her way.

That is until she stood at the mouth of this dark fortress. Everything felt, _wrong_. The air felt heavy and hard to breath. The shadows seemed far darker than they should be and cast about the group as if it were almost alive. Even with her friends using their gems as a light source, the darkness was oppressive. Connie's stomach churned, she regretted eating the two doughnuts before coming here. She just wanted to jump back on Lion, have him warp her home and crawl into bed and stay there until her mother called her for dinner.

It just felt _so bad. _They did great getting here too and it still felt wrong. Multiple dark constructs attacked them and with Peridot and Amethyst giving them a heads up, the operation was going smoothly this time around.

That's not mentioning what Blue Diamond brought to the battle. Really Connie shouldn't have been surprised, she had fought Blue before; she seemed un-poofable. Her abilities were down right scary if not god like.

So here they were a few feet from the edge of a clearing with said fortress looming in front of them, and Connie felt nothing but suffocating anxiety. She half wondered if the others felt as miserable as she did...

A small army of pitch black "light" constructs between the Crystal Gems and the entrance. They all huddled together with the exception of Amethyst who was perched on a nearby branch in her owl form, watching for any sudden movement.

Lion was, well, somewhere prowling the underbrush. The young fencer knew if she whistled the feline would jump in to aid.

"We could charge in all together, Garnet?" Pearl looked a wreck; nervously wringing her hands, faint lines under her eyes. She in particular was keeping a close tab on Connie. The young girl had a feeling that her teacher felt painfully responsible for the injuries she received when they first came to the canyon.

"A direct approach could work, but they have numbers on their side and can produce more constructs." Peridot's eyes narrowed in thought, the green light from her gem painting everyone in a viridian hue. "See the taller one in the back? If I had to make a calculation, I would say it can produce more constructs."

The most common constructs were squat, round creatures with a single crimson eye in the center and oily spikes protruding out from their backs. Instead of hands they had blade on one side, and some sort of projectile weapon on the other. The one Peridot was referring to however was tall and spindly. It looked like a mass of gnarled roots that were twisted together ending in points. It still had a single crimson eye, but it was emitting some sort of energy. It tottered around well behind the other creatures on stick thin legs.

"We'll have to find a way to get to that one first then." Garnet pursed her lips and a small frown appeared.

"I can destroy most of them all at once." Blue Diamond's veil cast a liquid shadow across her entire face. Were it not for her glowing arctic eyes, Connie wouldn't have been able to see her at all. "I'll need a few seconds to charge the attack. However, if you can purchase this time for me by keeping the first wave way, I can terminate nearly all of them."

"That's a better plan than charging in, even if she can't get all of them it'll clear a path to the one in the back." Pearl stood up and gave a reassuring pat on Connie's back, a weary smile stretching her thin lips.

"Alright then here's what we're going to do; Steven, Connie stay by Blue Diamond make sure nothing interrupts her. Play defense until I say otherwise, got it?" The children both nodded.

"The rest of us are going to fan out further and take out what we can. Once the bulk of the constructs are gone, rush the one in the back. Take it out as quickly as possible, we can't risk it making more enemies. Let's go Crystal Gems."

Connie watched as all the Gems burst past the forest edge full steam ahead, leaves and other forest detritus flying out with them. Amethyst had switched to her Purple Puma persona and charged in, while Pearl gracefully leapt in and easily destroyed the first couple of constructs with seemingly no trouble.

All the while the human girl and the half human boy stood side by side just in front of Blue Diamond. Connie already had her sword out, she was so anxious. A couple creatures broke free from the main group and started to barrel their way towards the trio.

"It's okay Connie remember, you're the strawberry!" The girl couldn't stop herself from smiling, remembering their personal motto. "And you're the biscuit! That makes us..." Then in unison, "Jam buds!"

Connie quickly parried the construct in front of her while Steven smashed it with his shield making it clumsily fall into it's twin. With one swift movement the girl impaled both creatures with her sword causing them to dissipate immediately from the catastrophic damage they received.

They'd both been in much more dire situations in the past, but for some reason this small victory was colossal. The highest of fives was in order, and given. Connie couldn't quite put her finger on it but she swore she saw a light pink aura coming from Steven; she'd ask later.

Both children turned expecting more trouble. That's when Connie was distracted by a vivid sky blue light, she looked behind her and saw Blue holding an orb of pure energy between her hands. "Shield your eyes!" The matriarch thrust her right hand in the air, the orb of energy following her movement. Then it shot up well beyond her hand and pulsed out.

"Everyone, heads up!" Steven yelled into the battle up front. The group swiftly retreated as a wave of energy bathed nearly all of the creatures in a hot, white-blue light. The energy even took out the tall spindly creature in the far back. When all was said and done less than a handful of the constructs remained and the Gems quickly dispatched them; only smoke and scorch marks remained.

"Whoooo, go Blue!" Steven whooped at the tall gem, and then went to help the Gems look for any stragglers they may have missed. Connie smiled and leaned on her sword, "Definitely high-five worthy." The diamond cocked her head at the girl, a puzzled look apparent on her shadowed features. "High... five?"

Connie giggled and stepped in front of Blue as she knelt down. "Hold out your hand with your palm facing me."

She followed the girl's directions, bewilderment only growing in her luminescent eyes. Connie then enthusiastically slapped Blue's hand. "High-fivity-five!"

A low melodic chuckle erupted from the the depths of Blue's veil. "I see, a celebratory gesture. Thank you for sharing with me." She then placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You were quite frightened back there..."

Connie looked down at her feet, then back at Blue, "I can't explain it, it's just heavy here. I just want to get away from here as fast as I can." The girl looked out at the others in the clearing, the fortress still looming in the background.

"It's the shard, you're not the only one feeling this way." The young fencer paused at the words, a realization dawning on her.

"You feel the same way." Blue's hand squeezed Connie's shoulder, she felt her cool aura saturating through her bomber jacket. It wasn't uncomfortable however, quite the opposite.

Intimidating was the only word Connie could come up with. The Malevolent Shard was so powerful it was essentially affecting a gem goddess. She had a sinking feeling that this was going to be quite the trial for them all.


	5. The Breakup

Blue Diamond always had a morbid curiosity about how certain artifacts affected sentient life. Seeing the Malevolent Shard work it's magic was impressive. White Diamond's creations were absolute genius, but they were also absolutely twisted.

Blue believed in a much more gentle approach, especially for organics. Put the poor wretches out of their misery, don't prolong their suffering. After all, it was bad enough that they were born flawed.

The Chorus Heart for example was an artifact that Blue herself had designed with the sole purpose of subduing humans and gems. The crystal would activate and take the humans consciousness away from them, it would do the same for any gem that physically touched it.

Multiple Chorus Hearts were put in place during the rebellion on Earth, but they were never activated. By the time everything was in place, Pink Diamond had been shattered. Or at least that's what Pink had the Diamond Authority believe. She had faked her shattering...

But she was still gone...

Forever...

Pink, Pink, Pink...

She had failed her. They had all failed her but Blue felt it so keenly. The last conversation the matriarch had with her darling Pink. Oh, how she had begged for the colonization to stop. She was on her knees in front of the "merciful" Blue Diamond, in front of the entirety of the blue court...

…

"_...Please! We have to stop! Rose Quartz, she has too many supporters, her army is massive! She'll shatter me!"_

_Blue removed her veil. The other gem courtiers visibly winced, her gaze was pure ice."You wanted this colony Pink, you begged us; you said you wanted to prove yourself. But all Yellow and I have heard is excuses."_

_She spoke in a quiet, low tone. Her normally soft accent taking on a sharp edge. "First there were too many organics, then their settlements were too difficult to eradicate. Now you're frightened? Of a common quartz soldier?" _

_It was so quiet the native insects could be heard flying about their business. The gossamer drapes of Blue Diamond's palanquin snapping in the breeze. _

"_Pearl, dismiss the court at once." Blue's pearl bowed deeply and proceeded with her wishes. It was rare for the cerulean gem to be so upset with Pink. This was unprecedented however, for her to prostrate herself in front of her court, disrupting it, disrupting her schedule at her own colonies. Blue had been on this wretched planet far too often of late._

_Finally, when she was confident her court was gone... "Pink! I have had enough! I cannot attend to my own operations if you keep calling me away!" She stood and walked past the smaller diamond. Her graceful gait was slow, predatory._

"_You don't understand!" Pink stood, defiant as ever, her magenta eyes burning._

"_Don't I though? How many planets have you colonized? How many moon bases have you placed? Kindergartens settled? Please enlighten me Pink, I'd truly like to know!" _

_The calm facade was gone, Blue's voice was at a fever pitch, her aura reaching out towards Pink. She expected to illicit some sort of apology from her, to try and get her to feel the frustration that Blue was feeling... But Pink simply stood there, eyes still afire, barely a tear on her face._

"_You won't listen? Fine. That's just fine, I thought you out of all the Diamonds would listen. But that's fine, I'll deal with this then. I'll hold court at my palanquin tonight and we'll settle this." Pink Diamond marched to the warp pad, fists clenched at her side; if looks could shatter... _

_She warped away, away from safety, away from Blue... _

_Blue stared at the empty warp pad, only her rage and her pearl were left._

"_My Diamond?"_

…

"Blue Diamond?" Steven's pearl snapped her from the awful memory, her hand lightly placed on Blue's elbow. It was too vivid, it was as if she was there at the Sky Arena 5500 years ago, having that argument all over again. The last argument she would ever have with Pink.

She shook her head, her gaze falling on the group in front of her. They were all looking intently at her in the dark corridor, waiting for?

"The way to the main ante chamber where the Shard resides?"

The gem matriarch blinked a few times, and gently placed her hand to her brow. They had to be expedient now, the longer they stayed in the Shard's presence the more it would influence their state of mind. That distressing memory of her last argument with Pink was a symptom of this. It was far too real.

"Something is wrong, there should be only one way forward." Blue finally said as she removed her hand from her head, she suddenly felt so very weary. "This is supposed to be a standard first era fortress, we used the same design on nearly all our colonies from that time period." She walked past the group to the wall that wasn't supposed to exist in the first place, and put her right hand flat against it.

The Crystal Gems were at a "T" intersection that wasn't supposed to be. It was oppressively dark except for some crimson colored strip lighting lining the floor of the corridor. It only accentuated the red-brown stone the fortress was hewn from. Even the light from their gems didn't carry very far... They were surprised twice now by small clusters of enemies. Luckily no one was hurt. That consolation did little to sooth any frayed nerves though.

"Let's take five everyone, but don't get too comfortable and keep the noise down." The perma-fusion said as she walked up next to Blue.

Garnet, she prefers to be called Garnet. Steven adores this fusion, and she is an admittedly competent leader. Well, they were from Blue's court after all. The combination of one of her legendary sapphires and a strong ruby (no matter how plebeian) would make a formidable pairing. Blue couldn't help but feel a little smug about that matter.

Garnet removed her visor and placed her hand on the wall as well. She then looked up at the matriarch, lines underneath all three of her eyes. "The Shard changed the layout of the building didn't it?" Her voice was smooth and soft.

Blue gave a heavy sigh and brushed her hand up the wall above her head. It was an investigative motion, she was trying to piece together an enigma that was centuries old now.

"Yes, the Shard has transformed the fortress into it's own design. This wall? It lacks art, finesse. It's so different from the architecture we use. No bismuth would ever build such a _common_ wall." It was completely smooth, utilitarian. No intricate geometric patterns or murals of the Diamonds adorned the wall, like it did with every other corridor the group had traversed down thus far.

Blue then brushed her hand down to about waist level, only her fingertips remained in contact with the stone. "You..." She paused, she didn't wish to sound too impertinent, emotions were already running high. "You didn't see this with your future vision?"

The fusion's voice was barely a whisper, "I didn't take into account that the Shard might actually be semi-sentient. My visions are muddled now, I don't have a clear view." She summoned her visor with one hand while letting her other hand drop to her side. "We'll have to split up, I don't feel good about it."

The Diamond grimaced, the situation went from well thought out to dire in a matter hours. She gouged the stone with her fingertips, crushing the red-brown rock in her elegant palm. She had never hated an inanimate object as much as she hated this wall right now.

… … … …

"What do you think they're talking about?" Connie asked. Steven and Peridot stood next to her in a loose cluster, keeping an eye on the dark hallway heading west. Steven looked up from rummaging in his cheeseburger backpack after finding a partially crushed pair of granola bars. He offered one to Peridot who just shook her head. She didn't typically eat but he didn't want to leave her out.

He then handed the bar over to Connie and she gave him a weak smile. "If I had to guess, it would be what to do next. Era one fortresses are pretty much all the same, but the wall being here is quite an obstacle." Peridot was usually brash and a bit obnoxious, but here she seemed muted.

Steven closed up his backpack and slipped the straps over his shoulders. Everyone was being affected by the magic in this place. Even Blue; he saw the look on her face when they arrived at this crossing. She had tears in her eyes, and her face was twisted like she was in pain. What was going through her head?

The boy prided himself on knowing all the Gems tells. When Pearl was upset she'd over worry and over compensate (one time she was so stressed she ironed all of Steven's underwear). Garnet would be especially distant and Amethyst was quick to anger when she was stressed. Peridot would second guess herself and her actions. He'd spent enough time with all of them to know how they were doing just by looking at them, even Connie.

Blue Diamond was something of an unknown. Steven had been speaking to both Yellow and Blue on a regular basis since his misadventure on Homeworld, but this was his first time on an actual mission with one of the Diamonds. He had a suspicion that he was going to learn a lot more about Blue by the time they were done, good and bad he reckoned.

"Everyone, we're going to have to split up." The group gathered around Garnet as she spoke, the apprehension palpable. "The layout of the fortress has been altered, we don't know how to get to the main chamber. Connie?" the girl straightened when Garnet said her name. "Yes ma'am?"

"You're not going to be happy with what I'm going to ask you, but it's important." Garnet knelt in front of Connie. "I need you to return to the entrance of the fortress and wait for us with Lion."

"What? I can do this! I'm not afraid of going on with you guys!" Connie was red in the cheeks, she normally wouldn't loose her temper like this.

"I'm not questioning your skill, you're a Crystal Gem. But we need a backup plan, things aren't going well." Garnet put her hand on the girls shoulder and Connie slumped a bit under the weight. "Yes ma'am."

"You're going to wait there until dawn. If we're not back by morning, you're going to go and alert Bismuth and Lapis about what happened." The leader of the Gems stood and gave a thoughtful frown.

"I don't like it, but I understand." The girl said finally adjusting the sword on her back.

"The rest of us will split up." Steven watched as Garnet appraised each member. "Peridot, do you have knowledge what the general layout is supposed to be?"

"Naturally I do, although I can't guess what the artifact did to change the floor plans." The gem engineer stated nervously as she adjusted her visor.

"That's fine, the point is to have at least one person in each group with some general information. Peridot you're coming with me and Pearl down the east corridor. Steven; you're going to take Amethyst and Blue Diamond down the west corridor."

"The radios won't work down here, how are we supposed to stay in contact?" Steven asked worriedly.

"I'm sorry Steven, there's no good way to do this. We have to cover as much ground as possible and get this over with fast."

Garnet motioned her head to one side, letting Steven know that she wanted a moment alone with him and Connie. He clutched the straps on his burger back pack and followed.

… … … …

The Gem Leader walked over to the still present Connie, she was hesitant to leave. She wanted to make sure they were well on their way before she left for her vigil at the entrance. Garnet could see this, she could see her worrying, pacing and holding on to Lion while she waited for them to re-emerge... What Garnet couldn't confirm was a solid outcome to this scenario.

It bothered her, intensely.

Then there was Steven, her little cutie-pie. Not so little any more though, at least not emotionally. He'd come so far. A couple of years ago he was a liability on missions, his powers unpredictable. More often than not, he would get the team in to more dire situations than they started in.

Now? Now he had mastery over a majority of his abilities. Now he helps lead the Crystal Gems along side Garnet, his potential knew no limits. She couldn't be more proud. If Rose was here, she wouldn't be able to contain herself...

She needed him now. She needed him to be the rock they all depended on.

"This is going to be hard Steven. You're the only one that has Blue Diamond's trust, and the only one besides me that can reign in Amethyst." Amethyst's attitude was the product their previous defeat at the fortress and the strain of their current situation. She had a tendency to lash out in frustration.

The fusion placed a hand on his head and ruffled the boy's unruly black locks.

"Go, as fast as you can. Don't worry about Pearl, Peridot and me. Just go, and when you get there? Take it out. It's ancient and out of control, we don't need an object like that on Earth or anywhere else."

The boy gem laughed playfully, "Okay, I got it. Just get there and take it out." He had put both his hands on top of the hand Garnet had placed on his head, all affection.

"Connie, be careful. If none of us are out by morning..." Garnet trailed off.

"I know, get help." There was a determined timbre in her voice this time, a sign that the girl had gotten over her initial anger.

She watched quietly as Steven and Connie gave high fives and parted ways, there were lingering glances and anxiety. But Connie was the backup, the fail-safe if anything should happen.

Things would happen, a thousand different scenario's played through Garnet's mind. It was if each one was in a pot of boiling water, briefly bubbling to the surface only to be swallowed up by the water's scalding depths. There was no clear outcome to a single scenario, only that they were there and the Gems had to face the possibility of each one...


	6. That's Some Bull

**Notes: Whew! Didn't know the story would be this long! Thanks to everyone following, and reading. I really appreciate it. It's the reason why I keep going. Also thanks for the constructive pointers, I do read them and they do help.**

**So I'm going to try and wrap this story up in about three more chapters (maybe less...). I travel a lot for my job and sometimes I end up in countries that maybe don't have the best internet infrastructure... So it's been a bit of a struggle.**

**That and I split open my dang thumb on a can of tuna! :(**

**The past couple of days I haven't been able to type well or play video games...**

**I'd also like to point out that I changed the description of the story a little bit to "mostly cannon". We don't know a whole lot about the Diamonds abilities so head cannon has to fill in the gaps. I'm trying to keep the story within the lines of a _plausible_ Steven Universe story.**

**I've already got the next chapter a third of the way done so it'll probably be posted sooner than later.**

**Here we go...**

**... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...**

"Whaddya' think Steve-O?" Amethyst whispered, her breath puffed across Steven's ear and cheek tickling him a bit. It had been... Steven didn't know how long now. The mismatched trio had progressed down the western corridor, twisting and turning to stars knows where. They had agreed that any sort of light source besides the ones actually in the fortress should be kept off unless there was an emergency. No unwanted attention.

All they had seen (apart from the disturbing shadows that seemed to move of their own volition) was pillars, smooth stone walls and the strange red cone shaped sconces that lit the way. That is until the passageway ended in a massive chamber that could have easily fit Steven's house in it four times over.

It was imposing to say the least, tall and cavernous, with a maze of even more pillars twice as tall as the ones down the corridor. The boy would be in awe except for the massive enemy patrolling through the center of the room. It was roughly two stories tall and had the same basic spherical shape as the smaller constructs they fought at the entrance. Pitch black with squat legs and oily spines on it's back, a single red glowing eye in the center. This one had a massive club slung over it's shoulder, with spikes.

"There's a ton of cover in this room... I think we should try and sneak by it." Steven finally said, his hand scrubbing the back of his neck. The trio was crouched by the left side of the entrance; Amethyst to his right and Blue on one knee looming behind the pair.

"What if we need to come back this way though?" The purple gem said, her eyes never leaving their opponent.

"We'd have a hard time fighting it even with all the Gems here, we'll sneak by. If we have to backtrack we'll decide what to do then." Steven furrowed his brow, they'd have to time this just right. They couldn't move as a group though.

"We should split up, no offense Blue but you're still kind of big." Steven looked up in half-apology but Blue simply gave a strained smile in agreement, and placed her hand affectionately on his back.

The boy gem turn to look at his companions. "Amethyst you're first, go right, stick near the wall. Blue? Wait a couple minutes with me here then do the same, but go left. I'll follow a little ways behind you two. Got it?"

"I don't like that you're last." Blue had arched a thin eyebrow at him in objection, her lilting accent had taken on a cool, disapproving edge.

"I actually gotta agree with homegirl on this one Steve-O, it doesn't feel right leaving you to go last..." Amethyst's scratchy voice was filled with concern.

A deep thunderous growl came from the construct as it stomped past on it's never ending patrol of the room.

"Shhhhh, keep it down!" The boy shook his head, and replied in a low (lower than before) whisper, "Look this will work you guys, we stagger it out and take different paths. We'll be way harder to spot."

The purple quartz glanced at Steven then at Blue Diamond and shrugged, "Ready when you are."

"Blue?" Steven watched as a deep resounding sigh left the Homeworld matriarch. She pursed her plump lips and nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, Amethyst wait till that thing starts to go to the far side, then go!" Tension grew as the trio waited for the construct to make another pass. When it finally did, Amethyst quickly shape shifted into a purple ball and silently started to roll her way through the maze of columns.

A couple of minutes passed and their opponent was still unperturbed. Steven then patted Blue's knee in a signal to go. She squeezed his shoulder as she whisked past him. She dashed from column to column with only the train of her veil billowing out in her wake. Blue didn't necessarily move super fast, but it was certainly faster than any of the Gems could move (aside from Sapphire).

When Sapphire was around and not fused with Ruby (which is almost never), she seemed to glide on sheet of ice. She was originally from Blue's court; he and Connie had a theory that gems from a particular court shared some basic magical abilities. The Blue court seemed to have water based magical powers. He'd have to remember to ask Blue about that when this was all done and over with.

When this was done... Were they going to get out? What if they never got out? He'd never see Connie again. Sleep in his bed, sing with Sadie... His dad, he may never see him again, lost forever in the darkness. For a moment Steven felt as if the shadows around him were closing in, grasping, pressing and choking.

He shook his head violently. _What was that?_ He clutched at his gem and looked up almost in a panic. That was not normal, he couldn't afford to think like that right now. Steven's eyes stretched across the chamber; there was Amethyst, half hidden the arch of the doorway on the other side. She was barely visible underneath the red light of a nearby sconce. She looked so small in comparison to the rest of the room.

Not too far away from Amethyst was Blue. She was a row up adjacent to the exit, peering over her right shoulder from behind a column, her azure eyes narrowed in concern. Steven waved at the pair in the distance, signaling that he was coming over. He stood and sucked in a deep breath; red rover red rover, send Steven on over...

**… … … …**

It wasn't easy getting past the guardian without notice but Blue somehow managed to do so. She was nearly spotted by the perverse creature when it turned on it's heel sooner than she had anticipated. Luck was on her side however and she narrowly avoided it's crimson gaze. Now she was on the other side of the chamber with the quartz, crouched behind her waiting for Steven.

What would Yellow think of this sneaking around business? Undoubtedly she'd be swearing under her breath incessantly. As strong as her beautiful Yellow Diamond was, she didn't necessarily have patience for subtlety. A sad smile pricked at Blue's lips, she deeply missed her company right now.

"What is he doing?" the amethyst growled. Blue glanced down at the quartz soldier whose gaze was pinned across the chamber. Steven hadn't moved at all, he was supposed to follow shortly after the Diamond. "I'm going to get him!"

"Wait!" Blue hissed and grabbed the bottom of the amethyst's shirt, yanking her back. "Give him a moment!"

"He's been there too long! Something's wrong!" The purple gem could hardly keep her voice down...

The cerulean matriarch pursed her lips and looked on, Steven suddenly grabbed the gem on his stomach.

"See!" the amethyst jumped up to go to his side but Blue had already moved to the row of pillars in front of their position. She just had to wait for the sentry's patrol to pass... Her back pressed against the stone column, Blue looked over her shoulder to check the area when she noticed Steven waving.

A breath she didn't realize she was holding left her lungs, she glanced at the quartz soldier who only shook her head in partial relief. Now came the hard part (the hard too watch part anyways). Steven had to make it across the room unnoticed.

She shouldn't have agreed to let him go last! It seems all she can do these days was make glaring miscalculations and mistakes. She should have insisted that the boy went first! Now she had to watch while he tried to avoid that damned abomination. Blue clutched at her gem, her anxiety starting to get the better of her nerves, her jaw muscles clenching...

No, she couldn't do this, Blue Diamond could not stand by and do nothing! She furrowed her brow and dashed to the next row of pillars, then the row after that. The sentry made another pass, the boy gem was roughly a third of the way through the chamber. Blue had placed herself halfway in, she was going to meet Steven in the middle at the very least, and get him away from this room.

He was only a couple of rows away now. He stopped and saw how close the Diamond had come out and started to wave for her to go to the exit. But Blue vehemently shook her head and waved for him to come forward instead. He had to cross the exact path the construct was patrolling now. He swallowed and made a dash for the gem matriarch.

Blue wasn't entirely sure what happened, but it was both incredibly slow and startlingly fast at the same time. The construct was turned, it's back to both Steven and herself. But then, just as the boy was passing, it turned strikingly fast on it's heel with it's deadly spiked club already arching down towards Steven. "**NOO!**"

The matriarch's scream pierced the stale air in the chamber, Steven managed to put up his shield just in time. The rose bulwark was shattered on impact, the boy was sprawled on the ground, knocked senseless. Blue burst from her row of pillars, and snatched him up and away just seconds before the club came back down right where Steven was.

They weren't safe yet though, as soon as Blue had gotten herself and Steven out of the way, the creature pivoted and smashed the column they were sheltering behind. It was a narrow miss, she had to duck to avoid getting hit directly in the head. The blow had cleaved the center of the pillar away. The cerulean gem dashed between three or four more columns, she just needed some leeway to get a damn attack off...

"Here we go!" The amethyst! She came charging in as some sort of hoofed, bucking, quadrupedal creature with two dangerously pointed horns jutting from her head. The quartz smashed her way through all the debris, jumped up and gored the construct squarely in the center of it's crimson eye. She was quickly knocked away but the damage was done. The creature howled at the injury it had received. It started to swing it's club wildly around the chamber.

The purple gem galloped her way over to where Blue and Steven was. "This place is coming down, we need to book it!" Part of the ceiling came down in a large chunk mere feet from where the trio was standing.

Blue looked at the unconscious Steven cradled in her arms and scowled, "Take him. I'm going to make sure this thing doesn't come after us or _him_ ever again!" The other gem turned so Blue could drape the poor boy over her furry back.

The quartz turned to go but stopped suddenly, "Look, just be careful okay? Steven will be devastated if something happens to you!" She yelled over the constructs howls. She then turned and galloped into a cloud of stone dust.

Blue actually followed the pair a short way then turned, the massive, oily black construct was almost on the other side of the chamber, still swinging wildly, breaking everything in it's path. With her jaw set, she summoned a hot white-blue light to her fingertips. She reached out to the ceiling with both hands and made a slashing motion. The result of which was a crescent shaped energy wave that crashed into multiple columns.

They toppled over and on to the creature, quickly pinning it to the ground. Thrashing about it still posed an immense threat, but the ceiling could no longer hold the weight of the surrounding stone. The entire room came crashing down on top of the creature. Blue barely gave herself enough time to escape, she bolted for the archway behind her and jumped through just as an incredible amount of stone and dirt filled the entire chamber.

Blue had landed ungracefully on her stomach, arms sprawled out before her. She stayed this way for a solitary moment, the corridor was blessedly quiet. The cacophony from the battle seemed like it had been going on forever (at least it did to her).

She got up and rubbed the dust from her weary eyes. As she was doing so she heard the sharp sound of hooves clopping on the stone floor in the distance, and gazed ahead to see a soft purple glow cutting through the dust and darkness.


	7. Ghostly Echos

Steven's head throbbed. It was like a small animal was clawing at the inside of his skull, and every time he moved his head throbbed more. So he stayed still for a while, he felt himself being jostled around, lifted and heard harried voices. Then some crashing, and then he didn't hear anything for a bit. In the darkness there were shadows and a rage filled crimson eye and blackness and despair.

After a while he heard the voices again. One voice was sassy and boisterous, and the other one was soft and lyrical. There was something cold on his forehead (which felt nice), and someone was holding him. The voices he kept hearing were fading in and out.

"_... In his bag... Because it's not the first time little man's been... during a mission.. and the swelling should..."_

"_I shouldn't have left him... couldn't bare it if he... only just found him... Oh my stars... be alright?"_

Slowly the the sounds around him became clearer and more defined as lucidity returned.

"...I dunno, usually Pearl handles things when he gets hurt." An exasperated sigh followed.

"So you don't know when he'll be conscious again? Or even if he's alright?" There was soft panic in accented voice, pursued by a cool puff of air that caressed his face.

"Your guess is as good as mine at this point homegirl. Jeez you're almost as bad as Pearl! He's fine, he's been through tougher stuff than this." But the tone of the statement wasn't confident.

Steven groaned and shifted so he could sit up. "Guys - ahhh!"

When he opened his eyes the only thing in his field of vision was a huge purple bull, with a ring in it's nose. The bull immediately began to chortle. "Steve-meister! Check it out, I'm a bull!"

"That's great Amethyst... What happened?" he felt arms around him tighten, Blue had him half cradled in her lap.

"_Oh_, Steven. I was afraid, so _very_ afraid." Tears welled at the cerulean gem's eyes. "You took too long to cross, and that perverse _thing_ sensed us somehow." The Diamond spat out the word "thing" like it was rot in her mouth.

"Yeah well it won't be sensing much of anything anymore. I got him good, and BD kicked it's butt and finished it of!" Amethyst snorted as Steven looked over and saw all that was left of the chamber; a pile of dirt and stone that completely filled the archway.

"BD?" The Diamond looked at Amethyst quizzically.

"Yeah, as in Blue Diamond? _B_ to the _D_ yo!"

"Do you give everyone these pet names?"

The bull circled the pair enthusiastically, "Only if they're worth giving a nick-name to, homegirl. It's what I do."

Steven shook his head, a small smile growing on his lips; Amethyst was starting to trust Blue Diamond (or at the very least, was getting used to the matriarch).

"Guys, we gotta get going." Steven sat up and clumsily caught the ice pack that fell from his head. After a few previous misadventures, Pearl started insisting that he carry a few basic first aid items in his backpack.

Gingerly, he investigated the source of what was causing his head to throb. "You totally got whomped Steven, it was pretty scary." The purple gem pawed the ground at the admission, it would have been more somber though if Amethyst _wasn't_ a bull.

A prominent knot had swelled just above his left temple. He gave a tiny sigh and leaned back into the soft arms surrounding him. "Blue? How much further do you think we have?"

The gem matriarch tightened her grip around Steven's shoulders and looked at the darkened corridor ahead of them for a few minutes and then knit her eyebrows when she finally decided to speak again. "I honestly don't know love. This isn't part of the original fortress at all..." She trailed off, anxiety weighing heavy in her shadowed features.

"Balls man! That's _soooo_ great, walkin' around in the dark, and we don't even know where we're going because this stupid Shard redecorated the place!" Amethyst snorted and glowered at the darkness around them. "We can't even go back the way we came now because of that construct _jackas_-"

"Amethyst! Not helping, and you're too loud." Steven warned and sat up.

"There is a positive... Or it could be taken as negative depending on how you perceive the situation." The younger gems both looked at the matriarch.

"The closer we get to the Shard, the more powerful the enemies become. That was a rather strong construct we faced in that chamber, if I had to guess I'd say we are making some progress."

"Well that's better than nothing." Steven was going to take anything resembling positive at this point, even if it had a downside to it. He grabbed Blue's hand and squeezed it as he stood up and turned to the open hallway ahead.

"Hey little man, wanna ride the bull?" Amethyst winked at him and all he could do is chuckle and nod. He still had a splitting headache so the invitation was appreciated. He walked up to the purple gem's side and was surprised to feel strong gentle hands lifting him from under his arms and on to the bull's sturdy back.

The boy gem nodded at Blue as she patted him on the shoulder. Onward, ever onward...

… … … …

There was a book that Connie had to read for school just before the current summer break. She didn't like it and was venting to Steven about it.

"... _I just don't get it Steven. It's about this old unlucky fisherman in Cuba, that goes out to sea and catches the biggest marlin ever! But at the end he loses it to sharks on his way back home, and that's the end of the story. He loses even when he wins. My teacher said it was a bitter-sweet victory, I just think it's unfair..._"

He wasn't entirely sure why he was thinking of this story right at this moment (The Old Man and the Sea), but the words _bitter-sweet victory _and _unfair_ stuck in his head.

Unfair, unfair...

"Steven, you okay?" He was still riding atop Amethyst the bull. Normally the boy would be laughing and making jovial remarks about the form his best friend chose, (and would be laughing out loud about his cheeseburger backpack hanging on one of Amethyst's horns) but circumstances were a little grim for joking around.

"Steven?" Amethyst whispered roughly again, more concerned. At this point Blue had sidled up beside the pair and placed a cool hand on Steven's back in an attempt to comfort him.

"_Ugh_, I feel sick, something isn't right guys..." He couldn't place it exactly but he wasn't feeling ill because of the knock to the head. It was something else; someone else? It was like he was feeling someones emotions, other than his own. It wasn't Blue's or Amethyst's either, he could read them like open books. The feeling was fragmented, or shattered?

Shattered, unfair. The words hung in his head, leaden and foreboding. "Just keep going, we have to get this done."

Amethyst snorted, "Alright, but if you're going to spew? Give me a heads up Steve-O, will ya'?" The boy patted the gem's neck in acknowledgment. He leaned forward burying his head between Amethyst's shoulder blades.

"Steven? Love?" Her voice, soft and melodic. It was beautiful, Steven wondered if he could maybe coax her to sing with him when this was all over. He could try, he did persuade Peridot to sing with him...

"It's okay Blue, I just gotta power through this. Gotta be strong, in the real way." He didn't feel strong at all at the moment. His head was splitting and the granola bar he ate earlier was threatening to make a re-appearance.

"_But commander, it's out of control! We can't take it with us when we evacuate!"_

"_Our orders were clear! Get the other Topaz soldiers ready and alert the Citrines, we are leaving with the Shard."_

Steven jerked up, "Did you hear that?!"

Amethyst stopped clopping forward and looked over her side. "Dude, I didn't hear anything... Maybe we should take a break."

"I heard that." Blue murmured, Steven felt her fingers dig into the fabric of his shirt as if to hold herself steady.

"Okay, both of you are scaring me now. I didn't hear anything, it's been stupid quiet."

The trio stood still for what seemed like and eternity. "See? Not a sound. Let's get a move on, the sooner we smash that shard thingy the better I'll feel."

The purple gem started to move forward again when Steven shouted, "There!"

An Orange smokey, specter walked briskly ahead of the group in the darkness. Steven could only make out that it was a gem. What type? Who she was? He didn't know, but he did know that he was compelled to follow her. He jumped forward several dozen feet ahead of his companions.

"Steveeeeen! Wait up! It's like, too dangerous to go alone!" The gem hybrid gave a brief glance back at his companions. Amethyst had literally popped back to her original form and was struggling with his backpack around her head. Meanwhile Blue Diamond was making a fast bee line for his location, jaw set and determined on reaching him before he gave further chase to the phantom gem.

But he couldn't help himself even when he tried, it was like he was possessed by something or someone. Recklessly he started running after what he saw in the black shadows of the corridor. He ran and turned a sharp corner following a faint shimmering trail in the air. He stumbled on the brickwork underneath his sandled feet (that was a change of pace). Further into the darkness the figure reappeared in a puff of orange far ahead of Steven.

"_It's not right, you're trapping us all here, with this thing?! My Hessonite please!"_

The words ringing in the boy's ears, bringing him to tears, "It's not right!" He screamed into the blackness, the words were not his own.

He jumped forward again, only this time the stone he landed on gave way, and Steven found himself in a pit. Stunned, he looked up and realized that he was roughly a story down from where he was originally standing. The opening above quickly closing shut when they boy gem noticed sharp, red pinpoints of light lining the walls of the trench he had fallen in; a trap!

"Steven!" A voice roared above him. The hatch had nearly closed when two large blue hands grasped the edges preventing them from shutting entirely. Blue peered through the very thin crack, her gem blazing a brilliant azure, cutting the darkness away. Stone and metal screaming in protest, she easily wrenched the doors open, widening the gap considerably. "Jump out now!"

He didn't need to be told twice, Steven rocketed through the hatch just as the trap went off. Hot, red laser heat burned below him as Blue finally let the doors slam shut. He landed neatly on his feet in front of the Diamond.

… … … …

It wasn't that Blue was angry, it was just that Steven had scared the living light out of her. "What were you thinking!? Running ahead like that? If I hadn't caught up to you.."

She was kneeling in front of the sealed hatch, her hands on the ground in front of her, irate. But when she looked up at the boy, his eyes were screwed shut and his hands were clutching the sides of his head.

"Blue, they're here! They're still here, don't you feel them? They're trapped!" She didn't look away, even when a pair of heavy footsteps ran up on the pair.

"Ohmygosh, you two! I couldn't catch up with the way you were moving! Everyone okay?" Amethyst finally had caught up. "Hey, Steven..." When the purple gem saw Steven, she walked up behind him and wrapped her thick arm around his shoulder and chest. Something wasn't right...

Blue sat up resting her hands on her knees, pursed her lips and closed her eyes. She stretched her mind, seeking out what was causing Steven so much distress. There was the quartz, her concern for the boy almost overwhelming her. The purple aura jagged and messy, but comforting and genuine.

"Ummm, what are you doing? We need to get out of here, Steven needs-"

"Hush! I need a moment to understand..." The matriarch hissed, then took a deep breath in, then out.

There was Steven, his pink aura was more uniform but raw and untamed. He was actually in pain, the poor thing was so sensitive to the empathetic emotions around him it was actually hurting him, even controlling him to a degree. He was absorbing the heavy ambience around him and it was starting to affect him physically.

This wouldn't do at all, clearly she needed to give him some much needed instruction when this was over.

He was a Diamond, his powers were far greater than that of common gems. She needed to show him how to shield himself from the storm of raw emotion that swirled about him...

The gem matriarch pushed her mind even further. Steven had said that he had heard voices, and Blue had heard them too, faintly in the distance. He had even said he saw something, but she and Amethyst had failed to see anything.

That changed when the Diamond let down a few more of her mental barriers. There were phantoms everywhere. Topaz soldiers running, a citrine fell just behind them, screaming, dragged away by the shadows. Something violent occurred in this spot, she pushed further.

Finally, there in the distance, was a hessonite. Not just any hessonite, it was one of Yellow Diamond's most decorated and elite commanders. Hessonite; Facet-1A5L Cut-1CD, one of the first Yellow ever created. She had served in multiple campaigns and had led Yellow's troops to victory more than once.

Blue remembered. When the evacuation from Earth was ordered, she remembered how Yellow personally took a census of all the soldiers and warriors who made it back to Homeworld. How the general took the list of all the gems that were lost during the evacuation, and personally delivered it White Diamond.

She remembered how Yellow Diamond sat in her chambers after everything was done, her head heavy in her hands... _"That was an unacceptable amount of casualties, far too many. Their shards are on my hands Blue..."_

Focus. Blue shook her head and watched the vaporous hessonite pause in the distance, torn between rescuing her own soldiers and... The misty figure ran in the opposite direction around the corner. She let out a heavy breath and looked over at the other gems, eyes glowing.

Amethyst was holding Steven up at this point, "He's just getting worse, what's going on?" The purple gem's face was twisted with concern.

"A terrible fight happened here when the evacuation occurred 5,000 years ago. The magic produced by the Shard acts as an amplifier. All the negative emotions from the gems that were here are being reflected, amplified and intensified." The cerulean matriarch stood, brushing off her hands on her robes. She walked over to the pair and picked up Steven who was still holding his head, eyes wrenched shut.

The Diamond's gaze softened as she cradled the boy in her arms. "Steven is feeling everything that happened here, and it's hurting him."

"Jeez, we gotta find a way out of here then homegirl." The statement was soft but determined.

"She's showing us something! We have to follow her!" Steven croaked, his stubby fingers grabbed Blue's robe. He was so scared. "She's trying to help, she couldn't save her soldiers, but she can stop the Malevolent Shard." The boy couldn't stop crying and clutched at his gem.

"Then let's follow that hessonite little one." The trio began to move forward down the corridor.

"Hessonite? I didn't see anyone, what's going on?" Amethyst was clearly confused but Blue didn't stop to answer.

She walked briskly across the cobbled stone floor. Small motes of dust kicking up in her wake. "This part of the fortress looks different then what we were going through before." The purple gem said as she jogged to keep up.

"That's because this is part of the original building, we are getting close. I can even make an accurate guess as to where we are." She turned the corner sharply, cobalt colored robes flaring out. "If I am correct, there's a control room near by."

The group stopped abruptly, "It's a dead end BD, this place is a flipping maze."

"No, touch the largest brick on the left over there." Amethyst paused, unsure for just a moment then placed her hand on the conspicuously large, seemingly stone brick. Scraping stone noises echoed in the corridor as blocks of stone sunk into the wall and pulled away revealing a pentagonal shaped metal door. A pneumatic hiss blew dust into the air as it smoothly slid open, revealing a dimly lit room full of crystalline control panels and glassy monitors.

The purple gem cautiously poked her head beyond the door before stepping in. When she was satisfied that nothing was going to jump out at them she stepped in and waved for Blue to follow. The doors hissed close behind them. "Well now wha-!"

In the middle of the room, near the main control panel was a misty orange figure staring plaintively at the trio. Blue, still cradling Steven, walked up to the apparition. She remembered the coral colored gem well; unruly hair kept back, her gem located in her left eye. She stood straight and rigid with her hands clasped behind her back. At the ghost's feet was a shattered hessonite gem and a small communications pad.

The matriarch glanced down at Steven, who was now scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his arm. She knew what he wanted even before he asked. Kneeling, she let the boy down and he uneasily stood on his own two feet (she kept a careful hand on his waist to support him, it wouldn't do for him to fall).

When the hessonite saw the boy stand, she gave a sharp nod, saluted and disappeared out of existence. The room was silent, they all stared at the broken being on the ground.

Amethyst finally broke the silence (and Blue was actually grateful for it). "This is intense, what do we do?"

"I will bring her home, Yellow will..." Blue looked away for a moment then back. She carefully cupped her hands around the orange shards, a sky blue bubble enveloping them. She then tapped the top and the bubble flashed away. "Yellow will want to know, she'll be relieved that there's some closure finally."

Steven picked up the small dusty data pad and examined it. "Blue? It was the hessonite that was causing me to feel all that wasn't it?"

The Diamond nodded slowly, relieved that the boy's pain had finally stopped. "She brought us here, it must have been important. What can we do in this room?"

Blue Diamond gave Steven a weary but wide smile. "We can gain some control over the situation is what we can do."


	8. This Sucks

**Notes: Short chapter! I haven't posted in a bit and work is crazy with VIP visits... Which means long hours and schmoozing and fancy dinners until late at night. That and this part would have made the chapter I had planned out super long. So here's a quicky with some silliness and fluff. **

**Don't worry it gets heavy at the end. What was on that data pad found next to the broken gem?**

… … … …

Steven sat on Blue's lap in front of the somewhat complicated looking control panel, her arm loosely wrapped around his midsection. He heard her mutter something about it being archaic and unsophisticated (the stress of the situation seemed to be wearing on her patience). To his left Amethyst was rummaging through his cheeseburger backpack. She bolted up unexpectedly with a toothy grin and held out two bottles.

"Okay, important decision. Do you want... Electric Tsunami? Ooorrrrrrr... Mango Madness?"

The gem hybrid rested his chin on the arm of the chair, musing for a moment. The atmosphere was still savagely oppressive, but the room the trio occupied provided them with a small respite. Amethyst seemed absolutely bent on taking advantage of the fact.

Wrapped up in playing along (anything to bring up the mood), Steven comically grabbed his chin in a mock contemplation and used his best, _snooty_ voice. "I do believe that Mango Madness tickles my fancy Madam Amethyst."

"Excellent choice Master Steven!" She cracked open the plastic cap and handed the bottle over with a mock bow, Steven couldn't help giggling. The purple gem then opened the other bottle and proceeded to drink it's contents before consuming said bottle.

"Ahhhh, good stuff! You should finish that up Steve-O, you'll probably feel better." He nodded and took a sip, his stomach wasn't quite settled yet.

"Mango madness?" Blue uttered softly, she gave a quick glance at the pair but then went back to whatever she was typing on the control panel.

"It's a fruit that grows in tropical places, it's very sweet. Do you wanna try?" The Diamond hesitated.

"How can a fruit cause madness?"Amethyst guffawed at the comment.

The boy only shook his head, "That's just the name of the drink Blue, it doesn't really do anything..."

Before he could continue the screen in front of them pulsed to life flooding the room with sterile white light. Multiple geometric symbols and graphs appeared blinking various warnings. The most prominent thing on the screen was a bar that was slowly filling up. There was also what looked like a map above the bar that was flashing at different points.

"I'm afraid that's the best I can do for now. The system is very old, it's lost its network connections to other points in the fortress. We'll have to wait a while and see what sort of control we can regain. Yellow is far more skilled with these systems than I..." The ancient matriarch trailed off, lost in thought.

"So we just sit and wait? This sucks!" Amethyst jumped up and sat on an empty part of the console, pouting.

"I don't relish fumbling around in the dark again, do you?" The quartz only crossed her arms at the remark.

"Blue's right, let's wait a while and see what happens." The group sat in silence a moment, "So Yellow Diamond, she designed this?" Blue sat back in the chair and pulled Steven a little closer.

"Yes, she designed most of the fortresses we used during the first era, along with much of the technology." Steven gave a thoughtful _hmm_ in response. It made sense, Yellow was in charge of the Authority's military branches.

"I've got a question." Amethyst had developed an incredibly mischievous look on her face.

"Are you and Yellow a thing?"

"A thing?" Blue arched an eyebrow at the purple warrior.

"Amethyyyyyst! You can't just ask her that, it's personal!" Steven said blushing.

"Awww come on! Things are tense, we're waiting around for this old computer to come online. I'm in the same room as one of the rulers of Homeworld, _the_ Blue Diamond, and I don't know squat about her! Are you and Yellow a thing?" Amethyst asked again, her expression hadn't changed.

"What an absolutely impertinent question!" The tone was offended, but the expression on the matriarch's face was simple beguilement (she was even smiling a little). She raised both her eyebrows after a moment and answered.

"Yellow and I have known each other for tens of thousands of years now. We were meant to be a pair, the two of us. White Diamond created us as such, we are opposite cornerstones of the Empire. We were created to bring a balanced reign. You cannot live as long, and experience as much as we have without feeling... Romantic inclinations."

"_Oh_ I knew it! Peridot owes me ten bucks!" The quartz slapped her hand against her thigh enthusiastically.

"You were betting on my intimate relations?" Blue said incredulously, but an oddly roguish smile graced the Diamond's face. Steven began making wild gestures to try and get Amethyst to stop but he knew his friend too well, she was on a roll.

"Look, like I said, we don't know anything about you. Then there was the whole coming to Earth, and picking a fight thing, then realizing Steven is Pink D's kid." A short pause as the quartz burped, "I noticed while you where here that Yellow was... Kind of touchy-feely?"

Steven slapped his hand against his forehead and dragged it down his face. He looked up at Blue expecting some sort of anger. But there wasn't any, she seemed genuinely amused.

The matriarch tightened her arm around Steven's waist while she sunk in her chair a bit, slouching on her right arm. "It was that apparent to you?" She chuckled softly.

"Uh, yeah! It was like a big neon sign to me! Peridot said I was crazy." The gem jumped off the console and shifted into a purple clone of the gem engineer.

"Oh Amethyst, they're not involved! They're beyond reproach." The imitation was perfect and everyone started laughing, hard. Steven almost spilled his juice in Blue's lap.

The laughing died and the trio settled into an amicable silence as the 6000 year old gem tech struggled to come online.

"I hope Peridot's okay, and Garnet and Pearl." Steven said, his free hand bunching in Blue's sleeve. She responded, giving him a reassuring squeeze.

A small musical chime sounded and a notification popped up on the main console. The data pad found in the room was charged. It was found next to... Her, the hessonite. Steven wanted to know what happened, from what he sensed, he could take an educated guess. He didn't know exactly though, so the boy asked the Diamond if they could possibly see what's on the communications pad.

Steven felt nauseous all over again, darkness and despair and hopelessness... _Unfair_. There was a sudden cool, soothing blanket of calm that fell over him. A large, tender hand had been placed on his gem. Blue was completely in tune with his emotions.

He was pretty sure that cerulean gem had been shielding him mentally from the worst of what this place was throwing at them, since he ran off after a ghost at least.

"We don't have to look at this Steven. I can take this back to Homeworld and pass it to Yellow. We can investigate it later, together." She gazed down at him, her right hand hovering over a small control panel in the arm of the chair.

It was the same look Connie's mom gave when she was worried for her. The same look Pearl gave when Steven was hurt or sick... A heady mix of concern and affection.

"No, I want to know. Besides, there could be some information on it we need."

The matriarch nodded and sighed as she tapped something into the panel. Amethyst shifted back to her normal form and came up and stood by Steven so she could get a better view. A window appeared off center of the main screen with, what Steven could only guess, was a time stamp in the corner (he was still learning the native Gem writing).

"This is Hessonite; Facet-1A5L Cut-1CD, _final_ situation report." She looked gravely at the recording device, scratches marred her sienna features, brow knit in concentration.

"The evacuation has been ordered, all Gems are to evacuate and then report their status upon arrival at the rally point. However, I have failed in my duties as a comman-"

There was more, but it was garbled. Millennia old tech could only last so long. Gem tech was far beyond anything Earth had to offer but time wears away everything. The recorded message picked back up suddenly.

"L-st control of the Malevolent Shard. In order to contain it I have grounded all ships and sealed the fortress. All the security systems have been activated in an effort to keep the Shard contained but... But..."

Her voice desperate, her expression is pure pain. "I have... Condemned all of my troops." The orange gem looked away.

"My Diamond. Yellow Diamond, I am sorry. I have failed you. I have failed the troops put under my command and the Authority as a whole. Hopefully my sacrifice is enough to atone for the grievous incompetence I have shown... Hessonite; Facet-1A5L Cut-1CD signing-"

The screen fizzled out, making the room darker.

"This sucks." Amethyst muttered, breaking the heavy silence.


	9. Steven Calling

**Alright everyone, we're in the home stretch. The story is a little longer than I wanted it to be, but I'm confident that's it's going to be done in about two chapters. Going to try and get them up before the Steven Universe movie hits. That's a tall order, but I have some much needed time off coming up, and I plan to use some of it to write.**

**You know we haven't gotten a glimpse of the Diamonds in any of the trailers for the movie, at least in the trailers I've seen. Super curious! Also curious about Onion, I don't recall seeing him either...**

**At any rate thanks for all of the encouragement, I keep writing because of it!**

**Excelsior!**

… … … …

The price was heavy, the burden of the hessonite's demise piled up like kindling on her already heavy shoulders. The war had taken so much and no matter how hard she and Yellow (and even the Crystal gems) tried to put it behind them... Some unexpected toll always seemed to come up and exact more.

The tax now weighing on Steven's shoulders, he was too young to experience such things. Too young to learn the onus a Diamond of the Authority is expected to shoulder. He wilted on her lap, face pressed into the side of her arm. Holding him was the only thing she could think to do to comfort the young gem...

Amethyst mumbled something about leaving and was picking up the boy's pack. It was a rocky start between her and the purple quartz, but Blue had a great deal of respect for her now. Despite her flawed size, she operated better than many soldiers of her type on Homeworld. Strong, reliable and forward thinking (also boorish, but all amethyst soldiers were).

The console was almost done re-establishing it's lost connections in the fortress. Blue gingerly plucked the pad containing the hessonite's damning last message from it's cradle. She stowed it carefully in her robes; the report would pain Yellow Diamond greatly, but she would be relieved to finally know what happened (contrary to belief, Yellow felt responsible for all of the soldiers under her command).

The typical Authority chime rang out in the room, breaking the fragile silence. Blue had been expecting it but the sound startled her companions.

"Let's see what we can find out little one." she murmured to Steven as she deftly typed in a command for a diagnostic. Multiple connections repaired, power at 62 percent...

"BD, you're killin' us. What's going on?"

"Patience please, we are fortunate it's working at all." Her thin brow was knit in concentration as she leaned forward. A small chime rang out, the map in the center filled out with various data points and colors.

"The green areas on the map mean the security systems are active and functioning. The red areas are where the system has been disconnected or damaged." the matriarch finally said leaning back.

"Ha! Too bad we can't see the room we destroyed!" Amethyst gave a Blue a toothy grin. The matriarch couldn't help but give a small smile in return.

"Unfortunately the areas the Shard created are out of the system's scope. We'll only be able to look at the original fortress layout."

"Blue, try and find the others!" Steven finally chimed in, his eyes once again sharp (much to the cerulean gem's relief).

She began cycling through all the active points, when an orange box suddenly superimposed itself at a particular junction on the map. "Looks like we didn't have to search too hard for them..."

She typed something into the panel on the chair and the screen was suddenly washed in chaos and fire.

"Blue! We gotta do something!" Steven's voice ringing clear over the roar of battle spilling out on the screen before them.

… … … …

She was covered in rubble, dirt and stone and dust. To be perfectly clear, she didn't know how she got into that position to begin with...

That's right, she was in hostile territory facing powerful enemies being controlled by an ancient weapon that was created before she even existed.

Some yelling was heard nearby then a crash. Pearl had heard enough, she shifted the large slab of stone that was on top of her aside and stood while summoning her trident. She watched as Peridot sailed by, followed by her trash can lid (you couldn't tell Pearl otherwise, it was a disgusting lid-for-the-trash despite what Peridot called it). She landed with a thud further down the corridor.

After leaving Amethyst, Blue Diamond and _her_ Steven, the trio had encountered a rather large club wielding construct. With some team work and elbow grease Pearl had managed to slice the thing horizontally through the center. It didn't poof out of existence though, it poofed into _two_ smaller club wielding constructs.

Garnet had the plan of escaping through the chamber they found their foe in, and then blocking the passageway. A sound idea and it nearly worked, but one of the constructs burst through the make-shift barricade of pillars the group had toppled.

Since then they had been running and trying to loose the damn things in the twisting corridors, at one point they did have quite a bit of distance between them and the constructs. But their foes had uncannily caught up with them.

Garnet was holding her own for the moment, she wouldn't be able to keep up the break neck pace for long however.

"Peridot?!" Pearl called over her shoulder, her pale blue eyes never breaking contact with the battle in front of her. She needed to be sure the diminutive green gem was alright.

"I'm okay, _nyeh_..." Satisfied with the shaky reply, the renegade lithely spun her trident and jumped in to help Garnet.

Just in time, she blocked a blow from hitting her long time leader square in the back. Catching one of the constructs undivided attention she baited it into following her a ways down the hall. It's spiked club slamming into the ground after her.

Pearl leapt around her enemy with a dancers ease, avoiding it's massive weapon. Getting any sort of offensive attack in was not easy however. She just needed a split second more, these things were ridiculously fast for how large they were.

She managed to dive between it's legs, thinking to attack it from behind but it spun around with impossible velocity once again. The club almost hitting her (once again). She did a couple of back flips to gain some distance. The construct roared and Pearl gripped her weapon more tightly, this was going to get ugly.

"Pearl! Bring it closer to where Garnet is fighting the other one!" Steven's familiar (but harried) voice rang through the corridor.

"Steven!?" She didn't have too much time to say anything else, her adversary was already after her again. It swung its club and Pearl dodged behind an already crumbling column.

"We found a command room, Blue has control of the security system, get that thing closer to where Garnet is!"

The easy part was getting the construct over to it's twin. The hard part was doing it while not getting poofed. The willowy gem started to run in the direction she originally came from. Garnet and Peridot still battling their own construct ahead.

Pearl's construct was almost as fast as she was, and the club almost hit her (_again_). She leapt forward just as it hit the ground and landed in a crouch just next to Garnet, who grabbed her jacket by the collar and pulled her up without looking.

"Peridot, keep it busy!" The burgundy gem commanded.

Peridot did as she was told, the construct in front of them was swinging wildly at her as she flew through the air bobbing and weaving. The construct behind Pearl was almost on top of the trio, already lifting it's weapon.

Steven's voice ringing over the intercom once again, "Keep them in that area guys, we just need a minute more. You're doing great!"

"We don't have a minute!" Pearl said, she was almost hysterical.

"Five seconds Pearl..." Garnet's voice low and steady.

"Are you insane! It's going to crush us!"

"Trust me." She hadn't let go of Pearl's jacket yet, in fact she tightened her grip.

Trust her, she should by now, they'd been fighting together for thousands of years. She took a deep breath and watched the commotion behind her. The monster that had been chasing Pearl had caught up to them now, club coming down. Garnet pushed the renegade out of the way while throwing herself in the opposite direction.

"Peridot, **MOVE**!"

The weapon hurtled into the monster's twin, smashing into it and the columns around it. Detritus and rubble flowing out like a geyser from multiple points of impact.

Pearl coughed and looked around frantically for her fellow gems. That's when her attention was pulled to a red energy barrier situated between the pillars. It was in a square shape from floor to ceiling, and had sprung up around the constructs thoroughly containing them.

One construct was comically on the ground, flailing it's spindly arms and legs. The spines on it's back keeping it from standing upright. The other one pounded on the force field in front of it, roaring in frustration.

"_Ugh_, how can it make any noise? These _things_ don't even have mouths... Clods!"

Peridot had wandered up next to Pearl, adjusting her visor with an irate look on her face. Peridot, check...

Where's Garnet? _Oh_ this was _the_ worst, trying to account for everyone after a battle. It reminded her too much of the last battle of the Gem Rebellion... Fear and worry crawled up Pearl's throat like bile.

"Garne-!"

"It's alright Pearl, I'm here." The burgundy gem stepped through the dust and darkness like she was strolling on the sand in front of the beach house. She stopped in front of the pair as she dispelled her gauntlets. Pearl let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and put a delicate hand on Garnet's arm (more to reassure herself than Garnet).

"Alright guys! That was awesome!" Steven's enthusiastic voice echoed around the group.

"Hey, there's a monitor thingy in the wall past containment field. Get to it so we can talk." The boy's voice cut off.

Pearl quickly strode past the trapped constructs in their energy cage to the area Steven had described. Peridot and Garnet close behind.

"There's nothing here..." Peridot said flatly as she looked around. That's when Pearl noticed one of the "bricks" in the wall was softly beeping. The green gem was a talented technical expert, but she seemed to have a learning curve when it came to older gem tech.

The willowy gem placed her hand on the largest of the bricks in the wall and a screen materialized in front of the trio.

"I would have figured that out eventually." Peridot said snidely. Pearl scowled and raised an eyebrow at the comment, she'd let it slide.

It took a moment but an image finally coalesced, and there was Steven, Blue Diamond and Amethyst (at least part of Amethyst's face, she was almost off screen).

"Steven! Are you alright?" The boy gem only grinned at Pearl.

"Hi Pearl! We're okay, everyone here is, right guys?" Amethyst waved and Blue Diamond gave a slow nod in response.

"Oh Steven I was so worried! Thank goodness you're safe! Where are you?" Pearl was still worried and would be until they were out of this horrible place.

But at least she knew Steven was alright and safe along with Amethyst. And while she didn't care for Blue Diamond in general (too many hard feelings), she was relieved to see her in so much that it would devastate Steven if she was harmed.

"Blue figured out what part of the fortress we were in and got us to a security control room."

"Good work, I knew I could count on you to figure this out." Garnet said beaming from over Pearl's shoulder, the boy only blushed.

"I had a lot of help... But hey, Blue, pull up the map!" The Diamond nodded and a basic layout of the fortress appeared, replacing Steven's face.

"This is your current location." Blue said in her soft lilting accent. Pearl shivered, she couldn't help it. Thousands of years of hearing that voice, condemning gems to be shattered... The bitterness she felt couldn't be erased in a couple short months.

The only comfort she could take was knowing that the cerulean matriarch was exceedingly fond of Steven, and wouldn't harm a hair on his head.

"As you can see you're somewhat closer to the main antechamber then we are. The entrance is several hundred meters ahead when you turn down this corridor." The section in question flashed in a bright orange color.

The matriarch continued after a short pause, "This is assuming that the Shard has not altered the fortress further..."

"Where are you located at?" Pearl said pursing her lips into a thin straight line.

"Here." A mirrored area lit up on the map in the same orange color, the only difference was a room off the side of the corridor representing the security control center the other gems were occupying.

"So you have control of the defense systems? I'm going to assume you turned them off..." Peridot chimed in, worry coloring her voice.

"I've actually turned them on." The Diamond said in a logical tone as the outline of the fortress faded and the screen returned to the faces of their teammates.

"There's no need to worry, I've scanned all of your gem signatures. The defense systems and traps will no longer recognize you as intruders... Isn't that right little one?"

Pearl watched as Blue Diamond arched an exasperated eyebrow at Steven. The boy blushed and gave a nervous laugh.

"Steven, has a bad habit of getting caught in traps. You'll get used to it after a while." Pearl said wryly, giving Steven a soft frown. She shook her head, remembering all the times he went on adventures with the Crystal Gems and got himself in deeper trouble than what he started in, simply because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.

"Let's focus, we'll meet up in the small area in front of the antechamber. We'll take this thing on together." Garnet looked around at everyone.

"Got it Garnet, we'll be there there soon!" Steven gave the group a determined nod and the screen promptly blinked out.

Pearl felt the knot in her chest become heavier. She'd been in so many battles, but for some reason she'd never felt absolute dread like she did this time though...

She pushed the feeling aside, and followed Garnet and Peridot to the meeting point. What ever happens next she'd be there for her Steven.


	10. The Dark and The Light

**I am the one who has fallen into the path of shadows  
And that road never seems to end  
I am the one who has drowned into the river of tears**

**Ensiferum - Eternal Wait**

… … … … … … …

It was completely dark in this part of the fortress. Steven hardly ever used his gem as a light source, but here he was making it glow. It was slightly subdued underneath his t-shirt but any illumination at this point was welcome.

The light only carried a few feet around the group, the darkness was like a fog engulfing them. Even sound didn't carry far. That fact would normally be a boon, but Steven had a feeling that the Malevolent Shard could hear and see everything at this point, no matter how quiet or discreet they were. It made his skin crawl.

The trio moved together in a tight knot, Amethyst revisiting her bull form and Steven sitting on her back. Blue Diamond positioning herself on the right side, her large hand holding the boy's own. Her grip wasn't tight enough to harm him, but it was strong. If something tried to part him and Blue, it would take nothing less than a jackhammer to do so.

"Blue?" The Diamond looked down at the boy gem. Worry and concern and fear and anxiety, it was all there. The matriarch always had dark circles under her enervated eyes, but since coming to this part of the structure they seemed to have acquired an even deeper quality to them.

"Is the Shard supposed to be this strong?"

"No love, it's out of control. White Diamond used to keep this device under magical dampening barriers, behind vaulted doors. It's very dangerous if left unchecked." She looked ahead, craning her neck a bit, trying to see.

"Yellow was quiet reluctant to deploy it, both her and I advised against it." She sighed and it seemed to Steven that she had been holding the heavy breath for centuries.

"But... One does not disobey White." Steven realized that Blue said that last part more to herself than to him. He squeezed one of her large fingers, and she looked back down with a sad smile and squeezed back.

"Dude, we should have met them by now... Right?" Amethyst's bovine head looking over her shoulder. The group was supposed to meet up with their separated teammates in this general area, but they hadn't shown up yet.

"There's only one way to the main room, unless they got held up by something. Hey look guys, it's lightening up!" The darkness started giving away a little bit and the mismatched trio could see a little further ahead. Outlines of pillars and the stony floor became apparent as they kept walking.

Maybe this won't be so... Whoa..." Steven's eyes grew wide at the sight in front of him.

A grand archway loomed in front of the trio, it was filled with a nebulous, inky black mass. It was moving in and around itself like a whirlpool. Oddly it had both the appearance of water and fog at the same time. It completely obfuscated any sort of view into the main ante chamber.

"I'm guessing that black stuff isn't supposed to be there right!?" Amethyst's voice raised a few octaves.

"I've never seen magic like this before. This is... Did you hear that?" Blue narrowed her eyes and cocked her head. She let go of the boy's hand and walked towards the archway.

"Uhhh Blue! We should wait for the others!" Panic colored Steven's voice, but the Diamond proceeded until she was only several feet in front of the magical aberration.

"Steven I know I heard something it sounded like..." The matriarch's eyes widened, "Pink! She's in there!"

"Blue wait! That doesn't make sense!" Steven screamed at Blue but she made for the archway just the same.

"Come on Blue, it's the Shard! It's trying to trick us and separate us!" The Diamond simply continued forward.

Steven looked at Amethyst, she had abandoned her bull form. It was uncanny at times, he and Amethyst could almost read each others minds.

The purple gem gave him a nod as the pair leapt towards each other colliding into a blinding flash.

… … … … … … …

Spinning up into the air and landing lithely in front of the frantic Diamond, Smoky Quartz held out all three of their hands to try and dissuade the cerulean gem from going any further.

"Hey now Blue, we need to think about this..." Dark uncertain eyes met hysterical arctic blue ones.

"You would _dare_ stop me from rescuing Pink!" An azure aura flooded out across the area taking Smoky's breath away.

_Keep it together! Keep it together! Keep it together!_

Tears flooded the fusion's eyes as they hunched over, "Come on homegirl, think about it! Steven wouldn't be here if Pink was trapped in there. Pink... She's gone..."

"**NO**!" Blue screamed and another wave of pure misery washed over Smoky, they were barley holding themselves together.

The gem matriarch pushed past the fusion with a disdainful expression. She was beyond reason. The Shard was directly influencing Blue Diamond, just like the hessonite's ghost did with Steven.

It was exactly why Steven fused with Amethyst to begin with. Smoky wasn't much for talking, and Steven was far more charismatic than any of the Chrystal Gems (Rose Quartz being the only exception). Smoky was, more or less, summoned to detain the cerulean queen if need be. It looks like Steven made the right call.

Smoky Quartz shook their head, wild dark curls falling in their eyes, they summoned their yo-yo and started spinning it. If they didn't get this just right, they may actually get into an all out brawl.

"Sorry BD! You're not leaving me much of a choice girl!" The fusion flipped behind the Diamond and wrapped her up from waist to shoulders in the cord of their weapon, effectively pinning her arms to her sides.

Smoky pulled, trying to bring the Diamond to the ground but it was no use. She had gotten wind of what the quartz was trying to attempt. Hot white-azure energy burned her bindings away as Blue cried out in pure fury. The force of the blast knocked Smoky Quartz off her feet and effectively separated Steven and Amethyst as they hit the ground.

… … … … … … …

Steven watched in abject horror as Blue stalked into the black, oily mass. Tendrils seemed to reach out and embrace her as she entered the archway.

"No Blue!" He jumped up and started running towards the entrance only to have a thin but strong arm catch him mid stride.

"Steven, stop!" Hands pulled at his shirt and spun him around.

"Pearl! It's Blue, she went in there by herself and-" A delicate finger lifted his chin up forcing the boy to look directly into his friend's pale blue eyes.

She knelt as she spoke, "We saw what happened and we'll help her, but you can't go charging in there _alone_!"

She gently shook her head and brushed the hair out of Steven's eyes. He couldn't help himself he wrapped his arms around Pearl's neck and buried his face in her shoulder.

The whole situation was a mess, Blue had come all the way from Homeworld to help, and now she might end up as another victim of this dark place. Steven felt a broad hand on top of his head and looked up.

"Come on Steven, don't give in yet." Garnet had wandered over to give him some encouragement. He let go of Pearl and scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Peridot had secured his cheeseburger backpack and was now making her way over with Amethyst in tow.

The gem hybrid took a deep breath, then let it out. It was so clear, he didn't know why he hadn't seen it before now. The Malevolent Shard was preying on their fears and then separating them. That's how it defeated Yellow Diamond's hessonite champion and her squad. That's how it managed to beat the Crystal Gems the first time around.

It's also how it managed to get Blue...

"We need to stick together. We're going in, but we have to stay together no matter what."

"We could form Obsidian?" Amethyst offered, unsure.

"No, the building isn't large enough, that and if you remember what Blue Diamond said, it matches power with power. We don't need to fight a construct as large as Obsidian." Garnet stated flatly.

"What if Blue Diamond attacks? We won't be able to stop her and the Shard..." Pearl was wringing her hands.

"We go for the Shard, and only the shard. There's five of us guys, one of us is bound to reach it. We go in as a group, stick together and make a bee line for the Shard." Steven said as he summoned his shield.

"Good plan. Ready Gems?" Garnet summoned her gauntlets as the rest of the team summoned their weapons as well.

Steven started for the archway and the Crystal Gems followed closely behind. He stopped just before going through and looked over his shoulder. Peridot was directly to his left, trashcan lid at the ready.

"We're with you Steven." The gem engineer placed a steady hand between his shoulder blades.

He took a breath and stepped in...

At first it was freezing cold, then unbearably hot. He felt nauseous and dizzy, but he had to keep going. Somehow he managed to push forward, step by step. Finally he managed to get past the threshold of the archway into a nightmarish dreamscape.

Everything was misty and in a strange, foggy gray scale with peculiar bleach white braziers (barely) lighting the path forward. It was also unnaturally quiet, it was as if someone had stuffed cotton in his ears, but he knew better.

The ante chamber was large, maybe half a football field if Steven had to guess, and darkness ringed the entirety of the room. At first he thought they were just shadows but upon second inspection he realized that the darkness was moving like the mass in the doorway.

"Steven look!" Peridot half whispered into his ear. He now just noticed that Peridot hadn't moved her hand from his back yet.

There, at seemingly the furthest point in the back, was the Malevolent Shard. It was smaller than he imagined it would be, maybe no bigger than a watermelon. Jet black with mottled red spots and twisting tendrils, it bobbed just above it's pedestal, radiating black light around it. And just at the foot of the pedestal in a heap was...

"Blue!" Steven's voice didn't carry far. A black wave radiated out from the Shard causing all the Gems to wince. It felt like a knot made of iron was twisting in his chest.

"Lets get going." Garnet was looking around worriedly, her plump lips pursed together.

They moved as a group, Steven taking point. It was oddly calm, but his gut told him it wouldn't stay that way. Soon the braziers dimmed and the shadows drew closer to them.

A construct ran out of the black mass surrounding them and lunged at the group. Pearl quickly sliced it in half, it's form dissipating. Soon others followed, the gems making short work of their foes but they could only keep up with so much.

"This is getting harder!" Amethyst yelled as she snagged a construct by the leg with her whip and swung it into five other enemies.

Steven blocked another construct and deftly moved aside so Pearl could finish it off. That was usually their battle strategy; Steven blocked while Pearl parried and lunged. It was getting more and more difficult however, with the boy just blocking Pearl's exposed sides.

"We can't keep this up!" Pearl yelled over to Garnet, who wasn't holding back. She threw a construct in the air and spiked it into a dozen other enemies.

"Keep moving forward! We're almost-" Three full sized club wielding constructs emerged from the shadows around them, one of them roared. Garnet spun around to look at Steven.

"Peridot! You and Steven get to the Shard, NOW!"

The green gem wasted no time. Steven watched as she swung low enough so he could grab on to her trashcan lid. She flew them up and Steven watched as five or six constructs tried to tackle him.

It was strangely clear around the Shard itself, but the closer the pair flew the harder it became to focus. Everything was blurry and Steven felt himself falling. It was like he was in a dream, or a nightmare, everything was happening in slow motion.

He hit the stone floor hard, knocking the breath out of him. The boy looked over to Peridot who was on the ground next to him, curled up around herself.

"_Ungh_, Peridot!?" He only got a whimper in response. By all appearances she was unharmed, but it was clear what had caused her to crash. The Shard radiated out another black wave of energy, this one actually hurt. Steven clutched at his gem and looked out at the battle; Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl were almost overwhelmed completely.

He had to get to that thing and stop it.

Inch by inch Steven crawled on his elbows, he was crying and he couldn't stop. What was he going to do when he got there? He couldn't even stand, it was hopeless all of it. He wouldn't stop though, couldn't.

There was Blue laying on the ground just in front of the Shard, her hand resting on the base of the pedestal. She wasn't moving. Her pathokinesis would have been a huge help...

Wait... Steven remembered. The warm, sunny morning that he and Blue spent on a bench, out on the board walk.

"_It's formally called pathokinesis; you can sense and manipulate emotions. This includes feelings, moods and their affects..."_

He had to try.

"_Close your eyes and relax your mind, there's only here and now. Focus on your feelings, and only your feelings. Breath in, then out..."_

Steven closed his eyes and reached out with all his positivity, all his warmth and love. He felt as if something was being lifted from his shoulders, he felt lighter. There was no more pain, there was worry and concern but he could function again.

The boy gem opened his eyes and found that he was surrounded by a pink aura. His gem illuminating the entire area in brilliant magenta, burning the darkness and shadows away.

All the hate, the pain, the despair, he was pushing it back and he was winning! Steven actually felt the Malevolent Shard shudder.

He got up on one knee and wiped his eyes, when he saw movement off to the side. Peridot was coming to. "Steven?"

"Stay put Peridot, I got this!" He turned back to the Shard, summoning his shield once more only to see Blue Diamond standing and clutching the ancient weapon in her right hand.

"Take cover!" Her hand lit up with an incredible amount of energy and crushed it to dust.

A dark nova burst out washing over the entire chamber. Steven had just enough time to put up his shield. The noise was indescribable, a thousand warped screams filled the room and then imploded on itself.

Then darkness...

It wasn't an oppressive sort of darkness, nor was it heavy and foreboding. It was just, dark, like when you walked into your house after the sun set.

Steven looked over and saw a lime green light bobbing towards him from behind.

"Oh my stars! We did it!" Peridot actually hugged him, and he happily hugged back.

He looked further behind him to see both purple and white lights at the far end of the room. A squarish silhouette moving steadily between them. He didn't see anything near where the Shard was though.

"Hey, go check on the others, I'm going see how Blue is." Peridot nodded and started jogging back to the others.

Steven tentatively walked forward a few steps, using his own gem as a light source now.

"Blue?" He yelled ahead but got no answer. She had to be alright, she had to be!

He began running, panic gripping his chest as hot tears ran down his cheeks. He was sure this was where Blue and the Shard where, he was only a couple dozen feet away. Steven walked a few feet more when he stepped on the hem of Blue's robes.

"Blue!" She was sprawled face down on the stony floor. Steven hurried and knelt at her side.

He grabbed her shoulder and shifted her on to her back, then gently brushed aside her silvery locks so he cold get a better look at her gem. He gingerly inspected the cerulean facets with is stubby fingers, checking for any cracks or chips. None found.

Steven let out a breath of relief. Aside from some deep scratches and gouges on her face, especially on the hand that destroyed the Shard, she was seemingly unharmed. An errant tear ran down her face from her right eye. He reached out and brushed it away, as he did so an elegant hand came up to rest on his.

"Steven?" She said hoarsely, as a soft azure glow began emanating from her gem.

"It's okay Blue, we're all okay. Let's go home."

… … … … … … …

Connie had been pacing most of the night. She had made a small fire in the large overhanging arch of the fortress entrance and tried to settle in. Tried was the key word. She paced and paced, till she was so tired she had to sit. Lion curled up behind her in a protective fashion and she laid back on his soft rose colored fur.

She only meant to rest her eyes, but soon she was asleep. The young fencer didn't know how long she had slept but she jolted up when she heard something come from the depths of the fortress. It sounded like a scream... But she didn't know what could possibly cause that noise, it even startled Lion.

She didn't feel sleepy at least not for a while. She put more wood on the fire and listened to the wood crack and pop. For some reason it felt less heavy, like something in the very air lifted, the knot in her stomach loosened.

The girl began to drift off again until a giant purple bull with Steven riding on top exploded from out of the fortress.

"Whoo-hooo! Check it out Connie, I'm a bull!" She stopped and Steven slid off laughing.

"_Ohmygosh_ Steven!" She gave him a hug and then looked him over, he was a mess. His shirt was dirty and torn a little, and he had a huge purple lump near his right temple. The rest of the gems emerged from the fortress's mouth looking the same way Steven did. Even Blue Diamond was scuffed up.

"Looks like you guys had fun."

"It's all good Connie. We got the Shard! It won't bother anyone anymore." Steven gave a grin that went from one ear to the other.

"I would hardly call it fun." Pearl said tartly dusting off her jacket with a disapproving noise.

"It wasn't fun at all, I lost my levitation disk." Peridot grumped.

"Oh, you mean your trash can lid?" Pearl said with a smirk and Amethyst guffawed at the comment. Peridot only glared at the renegade, if looks could shatter.

"That's enough you two." Garnet said calmly. The tall fusion walked up to Connie and patted her on the back.

"Good work."

"But, I didn't do anything." Garnet just smiled at the young girl.

"You did exactly what you were told to do, and it wasn't easy. Good work." The fusion turned and started walking towards the warp pad.

Connie went to follow the other gems when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She looked back and saw Blue holding out her hand, a tender smile half hidden beneath her veil. The girl smiled back as she gave the matriarch a five.


	11. Full Disclosure and Closure

The Gems made it back to the beach house and rested the entire day. It was one of their more difficult adventures, it took it's toll on everyone involved. But the next morning, Connie and Steven were rested and busy showing Blue around properly.

The boardwalk, Funland Arcade, Fish Stew pizza, the park where the Crystal Gems had nearly scared Steven's baby sitter half to death... (They thought she had kidnapped him.)

Now it was late afternoon and the children were teaching Blue how to play chess. Connie had pitched it as "the game of royals", and it immediately caught the matriarch's attention.

Blue sat on the floor against the living room couch with one leg crossed over the other, studying the chess board on the table in front of her. "Check."

"Aww snap!" Steven said from his perch on the couch just above Blue's left shoulder, juice box in hand.

Connie sitting directly across from Blue, furrowed her brows in thought. Her hand delicately touching one piece, then pausing. She moved her white knight next to Blue's king. "Chec-oh no!"

A grin spread across Blue's face as she moved her black queen over to the girl's king, "Checkmate."

Connie knocked over her king in defeat, "I fell for the bait, you left your king open on purpose!"

"That was the point." She said softly as she picked up Connie's king and set it upright.

"And the student has become the master!" The girl said exasperatedly and fell backwards on the floor in an over dramatic gesture. The trio laughed as they heard the rumble of an engine outside.

"Dad's here! He's got pizza." Connie and Steven began picking up the chess pieces. The boy looked up when Pearl padded out of the temple.

"Is that Greg's van? I could hear it from inside the temple, what is wrong with his muffler?"

"Oh, uh, he doesn't have one, he said he lost it while driving around one day." Steven gave his perpetually salty guardian a sheepish look. Pearl (more often than not) helped maintain his father's van.

Amethyst bounded out of her room in the temple. "Is Greg here with pizza!?"

"Amethyst, do you have a muffler in your room?" Pearl asked in a severe tone.

"Prolly', why?"

"I need it, Greg's van is a menace to peace and quiet." The purple gem's eyes grew wide in alarm as Pearl passed and opened the magical door.

"P don't just go into my room! You'll straighten it up again!" The pair vanished behind a star clad door.

Blue gave Connie a bewildered look, an unspoken question on her lips...

"_That_, happens all the time too!" She grinned as the cerulean gem shook her head.

Steven made his way to the kitchen, and began getting dishes out while Connie finished packing up the game.

"Heya' Schtu-ball! Think you can open the door? I got my hands full."

Steven ran to the door, the smell of spicy pepperoni already in the air. He opened it and...

"Gahhhh!" Greg startled at the sight of the Diamond looming behind Steven and nearly stepped backwards off the deck. He would have fell off if it wasn't for the robed arm that shot out and grabbed him by the t-shirt collar.

"Dad! It's okay, Blue was helping us with the shard thing I told you about." Greg looked down at Steven then up at the tall, elegant figure.

"Uh, hey! How's it... Going?" A nervous toothy grin appeared on his father's features.

Steven grabbed the pizza boxes out from older man's hands while Blue pulled him forward, and straightened out his shirt collar.

"Hey, thanks." Greg said stepping into the house after Steven. "I have to admit that was better than the first time I met Peridot..."

It was Blue's turn to be confused, "What happened when you met Peridot?"

"She pushed him off a barn roof, it was okay though. Garnet caught him." Steven said in a matter of fact tone as he set the food on the counter, Greg just shrugged.

"I just have rough first meetings with gems in general. Garnet picked me up to throw me over a fence, Lapis broke my leg..."

"And I abducted you." The matriarch said contritely.

"Oh, well... Hey! No hard feelings, to be fair you thought you were saving me from a geo-weapon."

"That's barely and excuse for my actions, but thank you." Blue said, sitting at the counter.

"Soooo, how long you here for Blue?" Greg began rummaging through the fridge for some soda.

"She's leaving tonight." Steven said dejectedly, "You can't stay another day?"

The boy climbed up on the stool in between Connie and the Diamond.

"I'm sorry little one, I have to get back. I have my work to attend to, and Yellow may come over looking for me if I'm gone too long."

The boy sighed as Greg poured some cola in a glass for him. The cerulean gem placed a comforting hand on his back.

"You can always call, I'll always answer, Yellow too." Steven nodded.

"I'll hold you too that Blue!"

The next couple of hours went by peacefully. Greg made a bonfire on the beach and was playing music on an old record player he had in his van.

He explained how Led Zeppelin was considered one of the greatest bands of all time, and why David Bowie was arguably one of the most influential artists ever.

Steven sang along much to Blue's delight, and Connie roasted marshmallows.

Amethyst managed to find a muffler for Greg's van before Pearl could "mess up" her room. Meanwhile Peridot flew by, she had found a new "levitation disk".

Garnet simply sat off to the side with a mysterious smile, and took it all in.

Finally, late at night (it may have been early in the morning at this point), Steven and Connie sat on a large beach rock and waved as Blue Diamond's ship left the atmosphere. It was bitter sweet.

"I miss her..." Steven said after a long, comfortable silence.

"She just left silly!" Connie said with a smirk.

"I know." The pair sat for a few long minutes watching the stars.

Lets go back to the house. Hey Lion, can you get us back?" The large feline simply looked at the children, laid down in the sand and grumped.

"Really? Com'on!" Connie could only laugh.

… … … … … … …

Yellow Diamond was en route back to Homeworld, when a notice popped up on one of her consoles. She had been overseeing some routine fighter ship drills on a nearby moon. Anything to keep her mind from Blue's trip to Earth.

It wasn't the time away that bothered her (though she did miss her cerulean queen when they spent any amount of time apart, long or short). It was the fact that she was going to Earth... Alone...

Pink Diamond went to Earth, alone, and it didn't turn out well.

She put her ship on auto pilot and pulled up her personal screen. Sweet relief washed over the general. There was Blue Diamond's newly filed report, her trip to Earth and the procedures used to subdue the out of control light prism.

It was a lengthy report, she checked the ETA to Homeworld, 30 minutes.

Truth be told, this was the only free time she had for this standard rotation. Yellow had some court duties to attend too and then the Citrine production reports... It should be enough time to delve into the details of Blue's excursion.

She began skimming through the usual platitudes that proceeded the narrative of the incident report:

**Planet:** GH582

**Native Name:** Earth

Details, meticulously documented. Yellow was going through the first page rather quickly when something caught her eye:

**Device Name(s):** The Shard of the Malevolent, The Malevolent Shard

She sat up, rigid and straight; a tight knot seemed to lodge itself in the column of her throat. This was _not_ the weapon that Blue said she was going to retrieve. She was supposed to be handling a standard light prism...

A potent mix of frustration and fury churned in Yellow Diamond's chest. She would not have let Blue go down there if she'd known-

"Dammit Blue..." The general muttered underneath her breath. That was exactly why the cerulean gem didn't say what she was dealing with. Yellow would have marched down there with nothing less than a full contingent of Topaz soldiers.

She quickly moved on to the body of the report, absorbing the details and picking them apart with her legendary, tactical logic. There at the end, was a personal note from Blue Diamond to Yellow.

She opened it without delay.

… … …

_Beloved,_

_I know you're upset with me for being less than forthcoming about what artifact I was retrieving. But you would have gone to Earth with a full contingent of soldiers, and it would have absolutely shattered the small amount of trust we built with the Crystal Gems and Steven._

_It was very difficult to overcome the Malevolent Shard and, admittedly, I did not come out of situation entirely unscathed. None of us did. _

_The deed is done however, and the Shard, destroyed. White will be disappointed, but I will deal with that situation at a later time._

_It is important that you see me when you have the time. I have discovered what happened to the Hessonite commander and her soldiers assigned to the fortress. It is not good news. I did not put my findings in the report because I felt that you needed to know first and foremost._

_All my love,_

_your Blue_

… … …

All of Yellow's anger dissipated into dull anxiety and concern. Her worst fears almost realized again; those she cared for being harmed on that miserable planet.

She needed to see her Blue, Yellow needed to be certain she was sound. She also needed to call Steven at some point, she needed to be sure he was alright too. Then there was the matter of her missing commander...

She engaged the Diamond line and her pearl immediately picked up the call.

"Yes my Diamond?"

"Pearl, delegate the court proceedings I was scheduled for to Heliodor. Tell her I expect a full report once court ends." Pearl pulled up a data pad and began punching in commands immediately.

Yellow continued, "I will be indisposed for the next several hours, have the Citrine production reports delivered to my inbox in the meantime. That will be all Pearl."

The pale yellow pearl nodded and then promptly blinked off the line.

The golden matriarch said all of this while landing her ship, she was nothing if not efficient. As soon as the ship was docked, she teleported down and made for Blue's palace.

She approached the gleaming azure doors to Blue's private chambers and they admitted her as if she had always belonged there. Willowy and soft spoken, Blue's pearl greeted her in the foyer with the obligatory Diamond salute.

"Yellow Diamond, my Diamond is resting, but has instructed me to show you in if you arrived." The small gem curtsied and led the Diamond to her mistress.

The pair made their way to a large archway draped in fine azure curtains, Yellow brushed them aside and stepped through as Blue's pearl closed the doors behind her.

At the end of the chamber, situated between two latticed windows was an oversized divan shrouded in semi sheer drapery. A silhouette of Blue laying on her side with her arm draped over her face behind them.

As Yellow walked forward, the figure stirred and moved the drapes aside.

"Beloved! I didn't expect to see you so soon, come and sit with me, we have much to discuss."

The golden gem quickly closed the remaining distance, and gathered her Blue in a tight embrace. She buried her face in silver locks and breathed deeply.

"Someone needed a hug." Blue cheekily commented.

"You-you didn't say you were going after that _thing_!" Yellow broke the embrace and cupped Blue's face in her gloved hands, inspecting her closely.

"You're exhausted."

"I'll be fine Yellow, it's over with." She rested her forehead against Yellow's shoulder.

"Is Steven..."

"He's alright too, he came out of the situation better than I did truth be told." The dark circles under her eyes were deeper than usual, but Blue's spirits seemed high.

Yellow nodded as sat up and took Blue's hands in hers. "Tell me everything."

And Blue did. She revealed the whole tale to Yellow; how they traversed through the jungle canyon, how the Shard had altered the fortress it was kept in, Steven's emerging abilities.

The general tightened her grip when Blue explained what happened with the soldiers stationed on Earth. How she brought back the Hessonite's last report and her remains... She paused when she saw the expression on Yellow's face, but the golden gem motioned for her to continue.

Then Blue described in detail what happened in their final altercation with the Shard.

"Yellow, I swear I heard Pink in there, as clear as the stars in the sky! If the Crystal Gems hadn't come, if Steven hadn't fought back..."

The general pulled her close again, she felt wet tears as her love buried her face in the crook of Yellow's neck.

"As you said, it's over with. It's good you destroyed it, I don't care what White says. It was more harmful than useful." Yellow shifted so she could lay next to Blue.

"All that matters now is that everyone is safe, and you're here with me." She rested her strong chin on the top of Blue's head and the pair stayed that way for a long while.

"You know, there was quite a bit I didn't put in the report..." Blue murmured after some time.

"Oh?"

"Did you know, that some of the Crystal Gems had wager?" Blue looked up with a truly mischievous look.

"What was the wager?" Yellow asked cautiously (she didn't like were this was going).

Blue grinned and began tracing the facets of Yellow's gem. "It was about us, if we were _a thing_."

"A thing?" Yellow felt heat rising to her cheeks.

"If we were, romantic..." She whispered in her ear.

"What did you say?" Her jaw was clenched now.

Blue pulled away, the smile never leaving her face.

"I said of course we were."

"_Oh_, dammit Blue! That's none of their business!" Yellow jumped up, pacing, her cheeks a hot orange color.

"Yellow! Come here darling." Blue sounded contrite, but she was still laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

"You're teasing me."

"I am, but I only do it because I love you!"

Yellow just shook her head. She supposed after everything that's happened to Blue over the last couple of cycles, she could at least tolerate a little teasing. (Actually she'd tolerate just about anything where it concerned Blue.)

The golden general went back and resumed her place on the divan, her love wrapping her arms around Yellow's neck, still chuckling a little.

All that mattered was that Blue and Steven were safe, and the universe was a little less dangerous.

… … … … … … …

**Surprise! Notes at the end! **

**This chapter ended up way longer than I intended. But I wanted it to end on a happier note, if I stopped where I originally wanted to, it would have been a much more somber tone.**

**SO, thank you so much for reading. I'm humbled by how many people liked my story, it means a lot. **

**This is all I have for this story, I'm marking it complete after I post it. I'm going to start working on some other stories I have lined up, maybe after a short break... We'll see.**

**Excelsior!**


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